Thermostat Housing Not sealing?

Well i just put in a new 180 degree theromostat and i put the gasket on and put gasket sealer on as well. when i reinstalled the housing i tightened it down. when i started my car to let it run it started dripping out the bottom of the housing. so i took it apart again and put it back on. still couldnt get it to seal. does anyone know of a good way to get it to seal? or what i can do to resolve this problem? any and all help would be greatly appreciated. thanks alot
Matt

The gasket may me the wrong one. I've been given the 3.8 NA gasket before and it's almost the same but won't seal. Check this post for the correct part numbers.

http://www.sccoa.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=18890&highlight=thermostat

You may also want to try using the gray permatex sealer made just for water pumps and thermostats, the stuff works great.

David

could be warped

I had the same problem a while ago. No matter what it wouldnt seal, and i was using the ford gasket. Turns out my thermostat housing was warped. HOld a straight edge to it to make sure it is flat. I got a new one from a junk yard. Good luck.

Kyle

MOST common problem is....

Ford thermostats use a locking mechanism to lock the t-stat in the housing. Any aftermarket t-stat installed MUST be right in the center of the opening of the housing.

What happens is this....

You take out old t-stat......Clean old material off........Go to re-install the new t-stat and when you go to place the t-stat housing back in the engine, the t-stat slips a 1/4 to 1/2 inch and causes the edge of the t-stat to go past the whole in the t-stat housing and get caught between the housing and intake. This causes the t-stat housing to leak because there is a gap that exsists.

The only way I have found to solve this is to place the t-stat in the housing and seal the gasket to the housing with gasket sealer. Let this dry and then install the t-stat onto the engine. This will HOPEFULLY....when careful not to more the housing too much while installing.....cause the perfect seal that should exsist and VIOLA......NO LEAK!!!!!!!!



Good luck.......



P.S. Learned this through this happening THREE F*&KING TIMES TO ME!!!!!!!



Don

i had the same problem mine turned out to be that i bumped the thermostate geting the housing back in place. when i tightened it down thethermostate wasn't in place. hence the drooling effect.

After I replaced my thermostat, I noticed a very slow drip from the housing. Taking the aforementioned gray goop and smearing it all over the connection stopped the leak. I'm such a sloppy mechanic

well i put a bunch of gasket sealer on the bottom of the housing and i am letting it dry before i fire the engine back up again. it was just leaking drop by drop and not a steady stream. i know i got the thermostat in correct because i put the thermostat in the housing then put the gasket on top of it to seal it in place and used the sealant to keep the gasket on. i rally appreciate all the help and any other suggestions are very much welcomed thanks
Matt

This is the best way that I've found for installing the thermostat in these cars.

Remove the old one, scrape off the old gasket, etc, etc, etc.

Remove the thermostat housing from the upper radiator hose.

Thread a piece of string or coat hanger through the thermostat and stick both ends of the string through the thermostat housing. It's hard to explain, but basically by pulling on both ends of the string the thermostat should be held centered in the thermostat housing.

Place the gasket on the thermostat housing. Might want to use some form of RTV or gasket sealer.

Bolt the entire assembly (thermostat housing, thermostat, and gasket) to the intake.

After you tighten up the bolts, pull the string out of the thermostat housing and reattach the upper radiator hose.

I wish I had pics to explain this better, but I think you should be able to get the idea.