Ford 302 T-stat housing leak - permanent fix?
Posted Dec 19, 2019, 12:26 AM UTC
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I always used a flat gasket with permatex on both sides but that was with the OEM housing. Maybe some locktite (the breakable kind) on the bolt?
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Permatex Gasket Sealant (the sticky red stuff) or Permatex RTV?
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When I was young permatex made stuff called Form-A-Gasket. It came in style 1, 2, and 3. #2 is what I used. It's black and stays goey. Look for form-a-gasket. I forgot the names had changed.
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Sounds more like weatherstripping adhesive. The Gasket Sealant stays sticky too. Thanks.
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You can see it warped in the photo. Look close and you can see a 1mm gap. You need a new housing. And when you tighten the new one on, tighten it evenly, not just one side then the next. I know from experience. I snapped a housing before.
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The gap on the top of the image is because the lower bolt comes loose while driving. If I tighten that bolt about 1/8 of a turn, it mates flat again. I think the issue is the chrome. I already have a new one that's a natural finish with a normal gasket. I was just seeing if there were any pointers that might help prevent this with a new one. Thanks.
EDIT: Could I possibly have tightened the upper bolt too much? And therefore created too high clamping force on that side, so the other side loosens and causes this? Maybe I could loosen the upper bolt a bit and tighten the lower bolt to remedy until I get the short block.
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I snapped a housing once by cranking down on one of the bolts completely before I started to tighten the other bolt. The better way is to tighten down both bolts evenly.
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do you have something really flat... and a blue belt sander belt. cut the belt.. glue it down using some yellow gasket glue.. set something flat on the top of the belt sander belt so it dries totally flat..
now you have a sanding pad that you can drag stuff back and forth across to make it flat..
do you also have a propane torch and a bench vice.. a homedepot close by.. you may want to buy some of their husky 1/2" combo wrenches and bend then into a J shape.. and other into a C shape so you can tighten the bottom bolt down on the thermostat housing easier.. i had to bend some 10MM wrenches for a water pump https://i.imgur.com/D8Sxgfp.jpg https://i.imgur.com/SFs2jcg.jpg
you will have to judge which way to bend them.. or just use a universal joint socket. on an extension.
i usually put some super weatherstrip adhesive on the flange and glue it into the manifold if that is what side the recess is in.. then glue the gasket in place over it.. so you can hold the thermostat in place with the glue and gasket preventing it from falling down when you are trying to tighten the bolts.. holding the housing away from the manifold and bending the housing..
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Good idea on those custom bent tools. Right now I can tighten it if I remove the ignition coil by sliding a wrench underneath the neck. I use the open end of the wrench and I can barely spin it just enough to tighten it. It doesn't help when the A/C brackets are in the way.
Also good point on using weatherstrip adhesive to glue the gasket. I was considering Permatex Gasket Sealer, is either better for the application? Or just something to prevent the gasket and t-stat from moving around?
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its just to hold the thermostat in its mounting groove and the gasket on top of that.. it will be hell to scrape off later..
spring end in the manifold please..
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Ah, yeah the manifold doesn't have a groove for the gasket. It's just flat. The housing had a groove, this chrome one had an o-ring type gasket. But the new one I plan on using is an OEM reproduction.
I made sure to triple check the t-stat orientation before I put it in the first time, I am of the "do it right or do it again" mentality, and I hate doing things twice.
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1968 Ford 302. Yes, chrome housings suck, I know. But I had to replace the old one when I replaced my intake and that one was in the spare parts the PO left in the trunk. Had an O-ring type gasket. I didn't use any sealer whatsoever, per the instructions.
For a good long while it was fine. But recently the lower bolt has been backing out on its own (I think, it always seems loose when it leaks). Drips coolant from the bottom. Even after I tighten it up, it backs out after about five minutes on the highway.
Ignore the cracked coolant hose, I have to replace it. I'm planning a rebuild soon and I already got myself a natural finish housing with a traditional gasket. Just curious if there's anything I should do to prevent this on the rebuild.
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make sure the housing is straight and not warped, use a good gasket. I’d replace that hose soon too from the looks of it.
I thought it might be warped. Lower bolt is always loose when it leaks, so I'm not sure what's going on. If the lower bolt just doesn't have enough bite on the chrome or what.
The hose is just an adapter, the hose itself is metal. Just the ends that connect to the radiator and hose are rubber. But they're less than a year old, so I'm not sure why they're cracked so bad already. Got the metal hoses because I was tired of collapsing hoses.
I'd replace it anyway, that looks rough. How are your motor mounts? If it's moving around a lot it might be putting extra stress on the hoses.
The threads for the bolt might be fuggered. You may want to consider a heli coil, and/or thread locking compound
I replaced the motor mounts last year since they originally were bad when I got the car. But they may be loose or bad again, I haven't checked them since. But the engine idles a bit rough, what I think is normal for a carbureted engine caused by unequal amounts of fuel in each cylinder, but certainly not the same as when the mount was bad.
I didn't use any compound on the threads, I might do that when I put on the new one during the rebuild.