1999 Ford Explorer • 190,000 miles

My car was overheating a few months ago so my husband looked under the hood and the reservoir was empty he filled it up lasted a few months then it done it again had a friend look at it said the thermostat was sticking and he changed that lasted about a month then yesterday I was driving I noticed a clacking noise and it started to lose power then the check engine light and battery light came on and my car shut off, uncle came and radatior was bone dry he put three gallons of water(thats all we had he didnt think it would be the raditor thought it wouldve been the starter or altornatior by the way I half explained it to him o the phone) while he was filling it up it was just pouring out started looking at it more and seems like all the hoses are good and like the raditor itself doesnt have a leak and saw that the water was coming out of the thermostat housing if I replace this and get a new thermostat should this fix my problem or would it be something else thank you for you your help!

**note: my a/c started blowing out smoke the first time it overheated so I stopped using it, but the heat still worked and few months later the heat would work just took longer than normal to get warm then when the friend put the thermostat on he noticed that the housing looked like it has been sealed before but was not leaking then and the reservoir and radatior had the stop leak mixture in it from previous owner (i bought it used)**

**** also I was wondering how I would clean the radatior and reservoir my self as I do not have much money to spend have one vechile and im the only one working****

April 13, 2013.

From the sounds of it, you have damaged the motor head gaskets from the constant overheating. The leak should have been found the first time it overheated. Now with the thermostat housing not set correctly, you may have engine damage

have a leak down test done on the cylinders to confirm a head gasket


Apr 13, 2013.
Were do you have one of those done at? And like when my car would start to overheat I wouldnt drive it I would pull over as soon as it would get hot I always keep a eye on the thermostat gage cause when I was younger I had a car that had that problem also. It hasnt shown any signs off smoking coolant mixed with the oil(my husband just changed the oil a couple of weeks ago) and the only timed it has ever lost power was when it shut off. I really hope that it isnt a head gasket. My uncle and his friend said that the reason it lost power and shut off like that was cause of the thermostat that was put on

Apr 13, 2013.