Michael Mattix
SCCoA Member
Ok, so I have to share my first time changing the thermostat and gasket. Well, I'm kind of embarrassed to say, but the gasket has been leaking a little bit since before I can remember. Finally, mostly because of it being a lower priority with kid responsibilities taking precedence, I finally did it. First try, didn't get the right gasket (didn't know it wasn't right at the time) and when I took it apart I found out. Since some on this board have put just rtv on it, I tried that. Next day after set up, it leaked pretty strong. I guess I don't know how to let copper rtv set up. So, second attempt I got a (what I'm going to call) a four hole (not 3 hole...2 bolt holes and one big coolant hole) gasket. Bought two just in case. WISH I would have taken in the mating metal hose. That night after work I tried to get everything all back together. To my dismay, the four hole gasket wasn't the right one and didn't match up hardly. I postponed any attempt to cut it and try and make due, but finding the right one was hard. FORD: "It's going to be hard to find....try KOI". Local parts place where the dealers get some of their parts. They had one that matched up pretty darn close. And I bought water pump type rtv. So, put it on both sides of gasket, and squished it down against the metal pipe and that held in the thermostat (that thing falling out is a nightmare....the idea someone posted about putting a small dot of loctite at the top is great, just make sure your loctite isn't out of date...I think mine was....didn't hold) and after the thermostat fell out a few times and a few explicative's were said and had to clean up where the rtv touched that it wasn't meant to, it's all back together. I put the bolts hand tight and then torqued it properly the next day. Welp, it's not leaking. Wow, I sure hope the next time it's not that hard.