How to Replace Thermostat Gasket Housing 1996-2011 Ford Crown Victoria
Created on: 2017-02-20
Learn how to replace the thermostat and drain and refill the coolant with the steps in this video
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step 1 :Removing the Engine Cover
- Remove the cover with a 1/4" drive
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step 2 :Draining the Coolant
- Unscrew the radiator cap
- Raise and support the vehicle with a jack and jack stands
- Have a drain pan ready
- Drain the coolant with a hose and 19mm socket and ratchet
- Tighten the drain plug
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step 3 :Removing the Thermostat
- Loosen the upper radiator hose clamp with pliers
- Have a drain pan ready
- Pry off the upper radiator hose with groove jaw pliers
- Remove the two 10mm bolts from the housing
- Lift the housing
- Pull the thermostat up, with a screwdriver if needed
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step 4 :Installing the Thermostat
- Insert the new thermostat and O-ring into place
- Replace the 10mm bolts in the thermostat housing
- Torque the bolts to 18 foot-pounds
- Attach the upper radiator hose and its clamp into place
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step 5 :Installing the Engine Cover
- Tighten the cover with a 1/4" drive
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step 6 :Refilling the Coolant
- Refill the coolant
- With the radiator cap off, start the vehicle
- Set the setting to vent and heat on the lowest fan setting
- Watch the coolant level
- Top off the coolant level and wait for it to finish bubbling
- Once finished bleeding, top the coolant level
- Tighten the cap
Tools needed
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1/4 Inch Ratchet
Funnel
Socket Extensions
Flat Blade Screwdriver
Torque Wrench
Channel-Lock Pliers
Jack Stands
19mm Socket
Drain Pan
10mm Socket
Floor Jack
Anti-Freeze
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In this video we're going to working with our 2004 Ford Crown Victoria, 4.6-liter V8. We're going to show you how to remove and replace your vehicles thermostat, this will also show you how to remove and replace the thermostat housing. However we recommend anytime you lower the coolant level in your vehicle you change your thermostat. An overheating vehicle can melt the thermostat and cause it to fail. Meaning you'll go through the entire drain and fill process as well as fixing your original leak or issue with your cooling system. Only to have another and need to take it apart again.
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Here the items you'll need for this repair: ¼ inch ratchet, socket, extension, jack, jack stands, 10-19mm sockets, ratchet, drain bucket, channel lock pliers, flat blade screwdriver, coolant, funnel, torque wrench
Using an open drive on the end of quarter inch ratchet extension, loosen up this screw at the center of the engine cover. Lift it up, slide forward and remove it from the vehicle.
The thermostat housing and thermostat are located here to the driver’s side of your alternator. Once the engine cover is removed, you'll notice in this video, that the alternator and few other components are missing. It's not necessary to remove these, we've simply done it to make it easier to film.
Your radiator cap is located at the front of the engine bay on the passenger side, right in line with the passenger side engine bank. Simply unscrew that and place it somewhere dry and safe. Raise and support your vehicle. We're using a lift to make it easier to show you what's going on, but this can easily be done at home with a jack and jack stands. Under your vehicle on the front driver’s side, we have a coolant drain here. Now I happen to have a piece of hose lying around that fits over it. If you do too, I recommend using it to put into your drain bucket to make this process a lot cleaner and easier. We'll then use a 19mm socket and ratchet to open up our drain. Once your coolants finished draining, go ahead and tighten down that drain plug. You should just be able to snug this by hand because that's just plastic, we don't want to break it using a wrench. Once we refill our cooling system we'll clean this off and double check for leaks.
Using a pair of pliers collapse the clamp, on your upper radiator hose, and set it into it's hook so it will stay open like that. Work it off and slide it down the hose, now this is probably stuck on there pretty good as you can tell. There's a few different tricks to remove these, but one of my favorites is to get a big pair of pliers, like these grove job pliers we have here. Clamp it onto the hose and twist. Now you don't want to bite in too hard or you're going to tear the hose, but you do want to get enough grip to make it rotate a little. It can take sometime, but just keep working it back and forth like that. Before we remove this, I've already done it, but you're going to want make sure you have a drain bucket underneath your vehicle.
Even though we drained our cooling system, it still tends to pool up in places which means we could have another leak, and a mess that we need to contain. Remove the two 10mm bolts with a socket and ratchet. Remove your thermostat housing, our thermostat's a little stuck so we'll take a flat blade screw driver, put it in the top there and just help pop it up. Install your new thermostat followed by the new O ring, place your thermostat housing back on, make sure that it goes on there nice and straight. Tighten down both 10mm bolts, we'll do this first with the socket and ratchet, and then torque it to 18 foot pounds.
Reinstall the upper radiator hose to the thermostat housing, set the clamp back into place and if yours locked together like our did, just give it a quick pop with a flat blade screwdriver. It should spring right back into place.
Reinstall your engine cover by sliding it back over the hooks in the front. Replacing it over the stud at the top, reinstall the nut and tighten it down with a quarter inch drive extension.
Refill your vehicles coolant, with the radiator cap off and your cooling system filled start the vehicle. Set it to vent, heat on the lowest fan setting just so you can feel it, and keep an eye on your engines coolant level. Now once our cooling system opens up, meaning that our thermostat has opened and allowed the flow of coolant through our engine block and heater core. Which is why we have the heat on to allow coolant through the heater core, this level will drop and we will need to keep it topped off and wait for it to finish bubbling and settling. We know all the airs out of our system before driving our vehicle. Once your vehicle has finished bleeding be sure to top your coolant level back up. Remove your funnel and reinstall the cap.
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