So my stepson came home last night from work with his car overheating. I was at work and asked him to leave his keys on the counter and I’ll check it out in the morning when I get home. He told me he had to work at 8:00am and said he would just take an Uber. Well he woke up late and decided he would just drive his car...smh.

long story short...he hadn’t changed his oil in a while like he said. He was two quarts low and his coolant was **** near empty from the over heating.

After I text him the issues. He sent me back pictures telling me fluid was spewing out. Anyone have any ideas what part this is? I’m at work and not in front of his vehicle. So I couldn’t figure it out from his pictures. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Welcome to the forums!

That is the thermostat housing on the 4.0L. It's an assembly that houses the thermostat, carries the coolant about, and houses the temperature sender. The overheating, along with age, caused it to melt, as it's plastic. Well, you'd hope, because the other is... well, let's not dwell on that just yet.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...r+outlet,10337

That's but an example list, you'd look for the entire assembly or at least the lower half of it. Various other places will have them as well. You can see the various pieces that are available singly, but as cheap as they seem to be, I'd recommend just getting the entire assembly which will include a new thermostat, water outlet, housing, and o-rings. Remember to lube up the o-rings before installation.

You'll probably also want to do a flush before you install it, as the melted plastic may or may not have gotten in the works and could cause a problem. And since you'd be taking things apart, a new water pump might also be a good idea. I might also be inclined to remove all the hoses and ensure nothing non-standard's in them, and the radiator isn't all that expensive either... insurance. Although you could also directly back-flush the radiator and the heater at the firewall with some spare heater hoses, then blow it out with compressed air to ensure it's not got plastic in them as well, just the radiator at that point wouldn't be difficult to swap at all, really... My thoughts on it anyway. A couple hundred in parts, some coolant+distilled water, and time and elbow grease... not a lot to save a car from the Future(tm).

Of course, the more concerning to me thing is that he's not changed the oil like he should have, so... yeah. Would be a definitely be doing the oil change before the flush. Or at least draining it first and having a look. Just to be sure there's not also a milkshake goin' on. And also, whatever coolant's in the lower hoses, I'd be taking those off and draining them to find out. Because if there is oil in that, or there's coolant in the oil... the whole of the coolant system isn't your problem anymore. Let's hope that's not an issue.

I'm sure I said some things you already were thinking/knowing, but hey, never hurts, right? Right. Hope that helps, and good dang luck!

/We've all been childs. Sometimes childs are... fun, yeah?

 

Thank you very much for the detailed write up Houtex. This helps out immensely and is very much appreciated. Guess I know how my weekend off will now be spent...better yet, his Time to get your hands dirty son!