About two weeks ago I replaced the fan, fan shroud, radiator and thermostat on my 91 LX. When I started it up though the anitfreeze was pouring out from the housing by the thermostat. I found that I did not quite get all of the previous gasket off so that might have caused the problem.
A few days later I took the housing back off the block and scraped all the gasket material off and then used a wire brush to make sure it was down to the metal on both sides. I then sprayed a little gasket adhesive on both sides and put the gasket on and put the whole assembly back together again. I let the adhesive dry overnight and ran it the next day. It was fine for about 5 minutes and then the antifreeze started pouring out the bottom and bubbling out of the top near the gasket between where the housing attaches to the block.
Tonight I am going to give up on the gasket all together and just use some RTV adhesive where the gasket should be. I have heard that this worked on other people's 5.0's. If this doesn't work I will be completely out of ideas. Anyone have similar problems or suggestions?

 

Did you also clean off the housing as well?

 

I think he got the housing too, ::Note above::

If everything is Normal, RTV and a gasket have worked for me. I had a leaky water pump 2 summers ago and the combination of those two solved it.

 

Yea I definatly cleaned off both the housing and the block before I did it. Last night I tried sealing it with just RTV instead of the gasket. I let it sit overnight and then this afternoon I started it up. After about 10 min of warming up the coolant began dripping and then pouring out of the bottom from in between where the housing attaches to the block. Now I am really all out of ideas and I need this car to be running. Any suggestions? :bang: :bang: :bang:

P.S. I don't see any cracks in the metal so I don't think its that.

 

i know it might seem silly, but are the bolts going all the way in? Maybe there might be a foreign object in the block bolt holes preventing a bolt from going all the way in.....like i said, may be silly but sometimes its the silly things that make the difference. Check the bolts also look to see if anything in the threads might not allow them to go all the way in.

Another cheap solution is to buy a new Housing. Check with 50resto i think they have a Chrome one .

Another idea is that the thermostat may be warped and may not be sitting right in the block, causing a gap that gets worse under pressure.

If you've tried everything else, it's time to start thinking....."what if" questions.

-Chris

 

I know what your saying with silly things...its the little things that always get you. I am pretty sure that the bolts are going all the way in...in fact I was concerned that the first time I tightened it too far. The thermostat was another concern of mine but its a brand new one I am putting in there so it should be ok. I am going to pull it off one more time and look at the housing. It looks fine to me but you are right I may need to buy another one.

 

Just some thoughts here:

Is the thermostat in theright way?
Is the housing bent at all or does it seem warped?
Are the bolts warped or bent in any way?

 

thanks, thats some other points i meant to elaborate on, but couldn't get it out.

On a note about thermostats, i have bought an autozone thermostat, the right size and model for my 84' and it didn't fit right. had a bent lip on the side that made it sit off-center.
And another time i was changing the stat' on a friends 89 Crown Vic and it was a troublemaker from pep-boys. The circular "fin" was bent! so i took a hammer and some wood and fixed errr right up.

Just to make the point that sometimes your neighborhood auto stores don't "always" have the best cheap fixer-upper.

 

I am going to have to take it back out and make sure the there are no small problems with the housing itself. I didn't see any before though.

 

First off I don't recommend the majority of the chrome replacement housings...Most of them don't have a lip to help keep the hose on and with the chrome surface being slick and the pressure in the system I have seen MANY an upper radiator hose blow off.


Now on to the problem....Are you sure you didn't let the thermostat slip and not allow the housing to seal???

Here is a trick....take the housing and the thermostat along with a pencil and rubber band. slip the rubber band through the thermostat and loop both ends up through the water neck(you may need a hook type tool to make this easier)...pull on the rubber band and slip the pencil(or similar object) through the rubber band loops and let the pencil rest on the end of the water neck where the hose slips on....This will pull the thermostat up against the housing and keep it in the right location. Now use a small amount of RTV on both sides of the gasket and install it. Once you are finished tightening the bolts carefully remove the pencil and rubber band....DO NOT let go of both ends of the rubber band or you will be trying to pick it out because it will pull into the housing.

 

Night marish flash backs
On my old 302 that stupid thing was hard to hold in place.
and kept getting in the way when it fell out of place.
causing many failed attempts.
Its been years ago But I must have failed to do it right atleast 6 times :bang: :bang:

 

just a thought make sure the thermostat is in the correct way..if it is not it will not let the gasket seal correctly and you might also snap off the t housing tabs if you crank down to much on them with the Tstat in backwards.

 

Sorry for not updating everyone but I got it working. The problem was, as some of you had mentioned it might be, that the thermostat was slipping down just a little each time I went to put the housing back on the intake. What I did to finally make it work was use a little spray tack to keep the thermostat in the housing long enough for me to put it back together. Other than that I just used a bead of RTV and it sealed right up. Thanks.