Ok, so at around 58k I changed my oil with Castrol 5w-30 and a motorcraft oil filter. Ever since then for the first few minutes it runs, it sounds like there’s no oil. It sound like stuff is banging around inside the engine. But it goes away after a few minutes. I checked my level and its fine. Now in the past 2 days it overheats for no reason. I kept it under 3k the entire time and my check gauge light came on because my water temp. was on H. but if I completely took my foot off the gas and let it coast, it dropped back down very quickly. I opened the hood and there wasn’t like, a WAVE of heat coming out, it looked/felt normal. My coolant is a nasty brown color and I’m pretty close to 60k and I don’t think the coolant has ever been changed? Are these two problems related and how do I fix them?

 

Sounds like a bad Thermostate....And your coolent sounds nasty!....Change the thermostate and flush the coolent

 

scratch that...my brother got home about 30 mins ago, just came in and told me it overheated on him too. so i went out, opened the hood, and its VERY hot. plus the truck has been sitting for a half an hour and the temp. is still in the middle between C and H. I also checked my oil again and the level is fine and it looks brand new, not dark or nasty or anything. Thanks for the advice though, i'll flush and change it after work tomorrow. About how long does the entire process take and I've heard things about coolant flush cleaners, have you had any experience with them and/or any reccomended brands?

 

i dont like those cleaners personally aluminum corrodes by itself esally enough why put harsh chemicals in there too? if it were me i would drain the coolant, remove the thermostat put the thermostat housing back on ( no thermostat). fill with water only and drive it for 2-3 min just around the block dont want to get it really hot no need to burn your self. drain the water/coolant/mud mess and do this till it comes out clean, then install the new thermostat and fill with the appropriate amount of coolant and water and go. and it does sound like a sticking thermostat but that doesnt explain why it cools down when not on the throttle.. but needless to say thermostat is a good start..

JOSH

 

I'm not too fond of chemical flushes either, but if my coolant was brown I'd use one

 

Alright, so driving to work this morning, it didn’t hit H but it came close. However, I wanted to see if it was the thermostat sticking so I kept it at 2k RPM and looked at the temp. It rose to around an 1/8th inch from H and then it began to drop pretty quickly back down to operating temperature where it remained for the rest of my drive. So based on what everyone's saying and what it mechanically looks like, I'm guessing my thermostat is getting stuck closed (maybe from whatever's turning my coolant brown) causing the engine to get hotter than normal, and then at some point it "un-sticks" and the coolant quickly gets it back down to operating temperature. So any ideas on what’s causing the engine to make that weird sound when I start it?

 

There is a *wax* sealed in a cup within the stat. As the wax heats up it expands. As it expands the stat opens. If it's not opening all the way one of two things is happening.

1) The wax has leaked

0r

2) The stat is physically corroded with junk and preventing it from opening.

Short answer... replace the stat and fluid.

Rich

 

Ok, one quick question on the whole flushing procedure though. The coolant I have is pre-mixed, so it’s already 50/50. If I keep flushing it with distilled water, there’s still going to be some distilled water in the engine when I finish and it comes out clean right? Is that going to substantially mess up the ratio of coolant to water when I go to fill it with coolant?

 

If it's a 4.0L, I would suspect the sound at startup is the infamous "marbling" noise:

https://www.ranger-forums.com/forum2...4&postcount=20

 

Alright, bit of an update. It was definitely the thermostat. I didn’t have time to do a full flush and in order to flush it; it needed a working thermostat anyways. So I only drained a little coolant and put in the new thermostat. Surprisingly, the old coolant wasn’t as bad as it seemed. The reservoir was full of junk (which still isn’t really good) and gave it a really dark appearance. Whereas when I actually drained coolant from the radiator, it was slightly greener and more transparent. I'm planning on doing a full flush as soon as I have time...which looks like this weekend. But as soon as I got that new thermostat in, it worked fine. Thanks for the advice on the "marbling". I had been aware of it before but I never knew that it was more noticeable after an oil change.

 

ummm

" if it were me i would drain the coolant, remove the thermostat put the thermostat housing back on ( no thermostat) "

gues you ddint need the thermostat to do a flush.. but if you didnt have time you didnt have time..

glad you fixed it, JOSH