We just got the car and all that I know about the servicing is from a sticker. The car has 75K on it and the last service for the radiator and coolant was at about 60K. I don't know if that means that someone looked in the overflow or if they actually changed the coolant though. I do know that the old thermostat fell apart when I took it out.
Did the thermostat have deposits on it? If so, then you can bet that the radiator has the same deposits, and you would benefit from a new radiator. Try to get one from the shop that the other radiator shops buy from, and you're likely to get a better price.
That is very odd. I've never seen a thermostat corroded badly enough to fall apart. I wonder if someone has tampered with the odometer. 75K is unusually low mileage for a minivan that is approaching 10 years old. They are usually owned by families that drive them continually.
What did the coolant passages in the thermostat housing look like? Was there a lot of crud built up?
I'd have the cooling system flushed well before doing much else. It sounds like a coolant flow problem, likely caused by an obstructed radiator. Since it doesn't overheat at low speeds, that implies that the cooling fans are working OK and there is enough flow to handle the engine heat produced when it isn't working very hard.
Matt
Not necessarily corrosion. I had the occasion to replace a thermostat in my daughter's Ford Contour a couple of years ago that had come apart. It was not corroded.
Bill Putney (To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my adddress with the letter 'x')
One winter my 96 T&C did not heat up. When I pulled the thermostat I found that it had fallen apart. Parts were in its holder and it took some effort to pull out all of the pieces. Seems that the OEM thermostat's that year might have had a structural issue.
Richard.
Same here, except mine was an 89 voyager that didn't heat up enough to run the heater. I found the thermostat in pieces when I took the cover off. I wonder if somebody replaced it around 1996, or if they have been substandard for a long time. After I replaced it the engine ran too hot. All is well now that I replaced the radiator. I had found a few small deposits in the thermostat housing and on the thermostat, but where it really builds up is in the radiator.
Does the van still have its AIR DAM on the bottom? That aids in engine cooling by creating a low pressure area and sucking down hot engine air!!
???
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