Thermostat replacement.

[crazyrog17]

I mentioned this in one of the other eight million thermostat threads... the only thermostat gasket that worked for me was autozone's. It has an orange rubbery seal on one side (the side pressing the thermostat into the head) and no peel and stick. Three peel and stick gaskets failed on me.

[nitrofarm]

This is AWESOME!

temps here is 32. I might put in some heavier weight oil as well. I have 5w20 right now.

You mean lighter weight oil I hope.... Here is a link to my Thermostate replacemant I did last night. I normally use the Fel-Pro gasket but left it at the parts counter ;( But RTV is old hat for this dog ;-)Scroll down to post # 9 Mr Havoc http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/sh...532#post560532

[MiltonHavoc]

No. Heavier. I got a clunking at start-up, goes away after about half a min to a min. and a slight tick in the cold as well. gonna run some thick stuff for two to three days of highway driving and then switch back.

[MiltonHavoc]

Thermostat done!!

[TorqueEffect]

Sorry for reviving an old thread.

But what's the verdict on the O'reily thermostat? Is it as good as the t-stats from the dealerships?

[Movin]

I am going to vote no. I think it has more bypassing than the standard replacement did. On a trip to try out all the new big sno-cats on the snow the temp gauge and the heater went to zero while on the hiway. At both ends of the trip with the car running and not moving both gauge and heater were normal.

Before I say one hundred percent I will pull and observe the contact pattern to verify that the position was correct and that any coolant bypassing was going through the valves.

It looked great, mine was the Murray. It has full warranty.

[nitrofarm]

LOL I have over 5K on mine with no issues's.

[Bert]

I have both types of thermostats (single stage and 2 stage) installed in Festys. To be honest (the entire week here has been cold and the past few days have been -5 F) there is no perceptible difference in engine warm up or heater output between them. This was an interesting experiment (I installed an expensive Mazda 2 stage in one of my cars back in November of 2011, making sure the small valve was at the top) that will not prompt me to upgrade thermostats in my other cars.
Now as to engine oils in cold weather; I ran 0W-20 synthetic for 1/2 day only (100 miles) at -15 F 2 years ago. The B3 started easy enough but did not like that stuff, and clattered like a badly worn engine until I topped it off with 1/2 litre of 10W30. Ever since then I have run 5W30 or 5W20 specifically during the cold months and that works fine.

[Movin]

I a, leaving now to run the east side of crater lake. It was below zero F the last trip , this one is right at 32 F but I bet it still leaks by. The Mazda one might be better, Fords is probably reboxed from Mazda. Less handling means less failures..Murray is probably reboxed Motorcraft LOL

[nitrofarm]

I had almost no heat with the single stage in my ATX Whitey.The PO had a single stage 190 deg F thermostat installed. With the dual stage the gauge floats around mid point,and my heat gets HOT. I'm Happy-

[Movin]

My ATX has what ever came with it and it works great.
My red one cooled down again, both directions to crater at day break and again after dark coming home. Both were actually below freezing temps while driving.
This one is bad, ha, I guess I will warranty it.

[bravekozak]

It's not the thermostat that determines if you have heat or not. It's whether or not the fins of your heater core are plugged up with over twenty years of dirt. That is because Festivas never had a cabin air filter. Those who have A/C will have clean heater core fins (but dirty condenser fins).

[Bert]

It's not the thermostat that determines if you have heat or not. It's whether or not the fins of your heater core are plugged up with over twenty years of dirt. That is because Festivas never had a cabin air filter. Those who have A/C will have clean heater core fins (but dirty condenser fins).

I would tend to agree with this except that my parents bought their Festy new in 93 and always complained about poor heating, right from day one. Having driven a 97 Aspire from Montreal to Ottawa during a cold snap in December and discovering that the heater worked great (same B3 engine but with a larger radiator), I'm thinking the heater cores on Festys have always been woefully undersized and similarly starved by the small hoses and 3/8" in and out brass tubing.

[crazyrog17]

Who's going to be first to do a heater core swap?

[nitrofarm]

My ATX has what ever came with it and it works great.
My red one cooled down again, both directions to crater at day break and again after dark coming home. Both were actually below freezing temps while driving.
This one is bad, ha, I guess I will warranty it.

Well that sucks,but at least it didn't failed in the "Closed" position.