Strange engine overheating.

[Leper]

The sticky is to hold the gasket in place during assembly. Anything else you want to use is a personal preference. Rtv is common, but just a very thin coat if you use it. Just enough to fill the imperfections in the sealing surfaces.

 

[TexasRedneck]

Personally, no gasket I install on thermostats go on w/o Hi-Tack....but that's just me.

 

[M. Sage]

No coolant smell, but I was just using water for coolant anyway since it was summer.

[facepalm] Never do that. It corrodes the heck out of your system. Coolant isn't just antifreeze, it contains anti-corrosion agents. The old green stuff that you should be using uses a phosphate to prevent corrosion. It was excellent stuff - the phosphate sticks to the metal almost immediately, where the newer inhibitors take time to work in.

Your car's cooling system has at least two metals in it - iron/steel (same thing for this discussion) and aluminum. You add plain water into the mix and you get galvanic corrosion. The phosphate in coolant is supposed to stop that. There may be more metals present, like brass.

One thing to pay extra attention to with Ford is the Ph of the coolant. On the trucks they had a lot of problem with coolant Ph leading to corrosion because the cooling system was acting like a battery. You can check for this problem by using a volt meter set to 2 volts DC. You stick the positive probe into the coolant at the radiator, and ground the negative probe. If it shows voltage, you're going to have fun keeping it from eating holes in the aluminum components in your system.

Yeah, that heater core sounds like it's a pain in the ass. Somedata is showing me an 8.8 hour job. According to it, you have to remove the evaporator and evaporator case, which means you have to evacuate the AC system. I hope you've got R134a... Also, I found a note saying that evaporator cases in cars built before 7/1/92 should be replaced because they will drain into the car instead of outside it. So if you've got a car with a production date before that one, this might be why you get water inside the car, but only with AC running. You'd be more likely to notice it on high humidity days.

So get a thermostat into the car, flush the system out and fill it with a 50/50 mix of antifreeze and water.

Personally, no gasket I install on thermostats go on w/o Hi-Tack....but that's just me.

I've seen a lot of gaskets that are self-adhesive. I don't really think it's needed...

 

[M. Sage]

Here's a partial TSB for the water problem with the heater case. I forgot to mention that in this model year, it applies if you have automatic temperature control. You should be able to find the rest of the bulletin by searching for the number.

Article No.
94-2-12 01/26/94
AIR CONDITIONING - WATER DRIPS FROM THE FLOOR DUCTS WHEN A/C IS OPERATING - VEHICLES BUILT FROM JOB-1 1989 THROUGH 10/15/93
FORD:
1989-94 THUNDERBIRD LINCOLN-MERCURY:
1989-94 COUGAR ISSUE:
Condensation may drip from the floor duct when the A/C is operating. This occurs because the location of the evaporator core inside the housing allows high velocity air to carry water droplets from the core face beyond the sump area in the housing. ACTION:
Replace the evaporator core and housing assembly with a new assembly which has a relocated evaporator core that allows the condensate to drain into the sump area of the housing rather than into the passenger compartment. Refer to the following procedure for service details.

 

[M. Sage]

Got another TSB for water on the floor. Geez, seems to have been a real big problem for this car.. TSB number 95-23-3 says, in part:

THUNDERBIRD/COUGAR
The first thing to do when repairing a water leak is to determine the root cause of the leak. Ford has noted a number of different locations where water leak issues can arise on the Thunderbird/Cougar. Refer to the following list when addressing a water leak concern. Water may come from the outside of the vehicle as well as the evaporator case. Always check the evaporator drain for blockage prior to performing any of these steps. The following is a list of areas where a water leak is possible:

1.	Water dripping from the floor ducts when the A/C is operating on vehicles built Job 1, 1989 through 10/15/93 are most likely exhibiting a condensate carryover from the evaporator core. Refer to TSB 94-2-12 for Service Procedures on this concern.

2.

Water dripping onto the floor in vehicles built after 10/15/93 or in vehicles built prior to that date which have been serviced following TSB 94-2-12 may have condensate leaking from one (1) of the following places (refer to Figure 2): a. The evaporator tube seal. Condensate forms on the liquid line inside the evaporator case. When the blower motor is operated on HIGH, condensate is blown against the inside of the seal and eventually leaks from the case. Condensate droplets will fall on the passenger side, just above the carpeting on the sound absorber. In very high humidity, this leak may appear within 10-15 minutes of A/C system start-up. A leaking seal can be observed in the vehicle with the use of an inspection mirror. Leakage from this area and area b described next, may be significant enough to saturate the carpeting over a long period of time. b. Case seam near evaporator tube seal. There is a seam between the upper and lower case halves adjacent to the recirc door linkage. This seam may not be adequately welded during assembly. When this occurs, condensate may leak from the case in this area. The seam is not visible when the evaporator is assembled in the vehicle. It is difficult to determine between leaks from this source, or source a, above. Generally, leaks from this source may wet the recirc door vacuum motor, while leaks from source a, above, fall directly onto the sound absorber. c. Heater core cover seal. This foam seal may become saturated with condensate and drip on the passenger 5 feet. The source of this condensate leakage is visible through the glove compartment opening. Condensate leaking from this area may fall near the floor ducts, giving the mistaken impression that condensate is dripping from that duct. The volume of condensate from this location is usually low, typically about one (1) drop every several minutes.

3.

Water accumulating on the floor can come from these other sources not related to evaporator corehttp://alldatapro.com/alldata/PRO~V.../56350984/56351074/34853741/34865608/56272263 condensate. a. Water may enter the vehicle around the evaporator drain seal from the outside due to the lower evaporator case-to-dash mounting stud not being properly torqued. b. Water may leak into the passenger side kick panel on 1994 and 1995 models built through 8/10/94 due to insufficient body sealing in the right A-pillar/cowl area. If the kick panel area does not drain this water due to rustproofing or debris, the water can potentially build up and reach the carpet, or the water may find a path to flow onto the carpet when making its way down from the cowl area. This leak source is very rare and is outlined in TSB 94-22-5 for other wiring corrosion concerns.

 

[Glockster69]

Damn it London, get out of the Twilight Zone and go see M Sage.

 

[RetArmySgt]

Sounds like that is something that needs to be taken to a shop with that much that needs to be done lol.

 

[London]

Damn it London, get out of the Twilight Zone and go see M Sage.

I'm thinking that might work if old Sage wants the work. You moonlight, Mike, or am I gonna have to take this to the shop? Care to hazard an estimate?

 

[M. Sage]

I'm thinking that might work if old Sage wants the work. You moonlight, Mike, or am I gonna have to take this to the shop? Care to hazard an estimate?

I do side work. The big problem is that I leave for a hiking trip next Saturday, and have work to do this Saturday to get ready for it...

 

[London]

Oh, don't worry about that. It'll take me some time to save up the money for this humdinger of a job!

 

[Randman]

On the later 4.0 the most likely culprit is the electric fan.

Don't think it's the electric fan, doesn't spin when shut off. Think the fan clutch is fine.. Hoping it's just the the t stat, it was cheap..