Your cooling system needs the thermostat and the water pump in order to circulate the coolant through the engine. This keeps the engine’s temperature below 220 degrees Fahrenheit. The thermostat is the cooling system part that releases the coolant, and the water pump is the cooling system part that circulates it. Both of these parts have an average lifespan of about 100,000 miles. In this blog post, we are going to talk about the thermostat and the signs that your car needs a new one installed.
Rusty/Corroded Housing
The thermostat housing is made of metal, and, as such, it will start to rust and corrode if the thermostat starts leaking coolant. This can happen in older thermostats. Older thermostats can develop slow leaks that allow the coolant to puddle around the housing. When this happens, the coolant starts to eat away at the metal. It will also turn sticky, almost like a gel. It’s best to replace the thermostat if there is corrosion on the metal housing. Otherwise, you will end up with a larger coolant leak.
Leaking Coolant
When this happens, you’re going to find coolant puddles on your garage floor one day. Unfortunately, this means that the coolant had its way with the metal housing and has chewed all the way through it. Consequently, you will lose coolant constantly until you replace the leaking thermostat. As an aside, this can also happen with the water pump. Either way, you cannot afford to have a leak in any of the cooling system parts. Leaks reduce the level of coolant that is circulating through the engine.
Erratic Temperatures
The thermostat may also start to malfunction when it gets too old. When this happens, you may see your engine’s temperature moving up and down erratically. This tells you that the thermostat cannot read the temperature anymore. It has lost its ability to do so. Consequently, it may think that the engine needs coolant when it actually doesn’t. It may also fail to understand that the engine does need coolant. Consequently, you will see some erratic temperatures on the temperature gauge.
Constant Overheating
Finally, you don’t need us to tell you that all of these things will cause your engine to overheat constantly. In fact, if the thermostat dies completely, the engine will overheat quickly after you start it. This is why we recommend that you get the thermostat replaced at the first sign of trouble.
We can do that here at our shop, so call us today for a service appointment.