I arrived at the shop this one particular morning to find my co-worker, George, smiling rather smugly in my direction. It seems there were two 2002 Ford Tauruses on the lot and both of them needed their thermostats replaced. Knowing that both cars had 3.0-liter engines, George’s competitive nature kicked into high gear. "You take that one and I’ll take this one," George told me. "Last one finished buys lunch."
Not All 3.0-Liter Engines are the Same
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Once we popped the hoods, however, we realized that, even though both cars had 3.0-liter engines, mine had overhead valves and his had dual overhead cams. The only part of the job that was the same for both cars was that we used the jacking points on the body molding behind the front wheels to lift and support them. I wasn’t sure if it was my imagination, but I think at this point, George started to sweat.
My OHV Engine
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The thermostat housing was right there, easy to get to. The thermostat mounted horizontally in the housing. When I installed the new thermostat, I made sure the jiggle-valve was at the 12 o’clock position, and I tightened the housing bolts to within the range of 89 to 124 inch-pounds.
George’s DOHC Engine
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When George saw two hoses on the water circulation connection, he started to mutter to himself. After some poking around, he took off the bottom of the two hoses and the lower half of the connection to get to the thermostat. I wasn’t watching at this point, but I’m sure he made note of how the thermostat and O-ring were sitting in the housing so he could put the new one in the same way the old one came out: the O-ring goes on the housing and then the thermostat goes in with the spring side up, on top of the O-ring. He tightened the housing bolts to 71 to 106 inch-pounds.
Refilling the Coolant
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We know that 2002 Tauruses can have either green or yellow coolant. We wanted to replace the coolant in our cars with the same color coolant that came out. The green-colored coolant is Motorcraft Premium Engine Coolant or an equivalent that meets Ford specification ESE-M97B44–A. The yellow-colored coolant is Motorcraft Premium Gold Engine Coolant or equivalent that meets Ford Specification WSS-M97B51–A1. We both used a 50 percent solution of coolant and drinking water to refill the system. It was a good day for me; George bought lunch.