Leaking Thermostat Housing. Thinking on billet with O Ring

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Glad your happy with the o-ring.
Having said that, Why did you continue to use the chrome Chinese housing, which pretty much everyone
knows leak ?
You went through gasket after gasket, and continued to use the same chrome housing, for years. No wonder you had a leak.

Hundreds of thousands, of stock housings, installed correctly, work leak free. Just dont want to mislead anyone, that the expensive o ring housing is the end all be all. Get a stock housing, install it correctly, and your good to go.

Anyhow, glad your problem is solved.
 
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Johnny Dart said:
Glad your happy with the o-ring.
Having said that, Why did you continue to use the chrome Chinese housing, which pretty much everyone
knows leak ?
You went through gasket after gasket, and continued to use the same chrome housing, for years. No wonder you had a leak.

Hundreds of thousands, of stock housings, installed correctly, work leak free. Just dont want to mislead anyone, that the expensive o ring housing is the end all be all. Get a stock housing, install it correctly, and your good to go.

Anyhow, glad your problem is solved.
Click to expand...
I had trouble w/ the stock housing too. It seems that the tightening of the bolts over and over, or too tight bends the ears down slightly where the gasket isn`t compressed hard enough. I stated in an earlier post on how I cut my 'CHEAP CHINESE CHROME ALUM. HOUSING) DOWN IN MY LATHE TO MAKE IT WORK, AND IT DOES. will work for stock housings too.
 
Johnny Dart said:
Glad your happy with the o-ring.
Having said that, Why did you continue to use the chrome Chinese housing, which pretty much everyone
knows leak ?
You went through gasket after gasket, and continued to use the same chrome housing, for years. No wonder you had a leak.

Hundreds of thousands, of stock housings, installed correctly, work leak free. Just dont want to mislead anyone, that the expensive o ring housing is the end all be all. Get a stock housing, install it correctly, and your good to go.

Anyhow, glad your problem is solved.
Click to expand...
Guess I'm just hard headed. I thought that I wasn't going to let it get the best of me. At the time I didn't know they all leaked, but I do now. I guess I couldn't see the forest for the trees. I finally said enough is enough. You are absolutely right about the stock housing, but the shiny one matched my engine bay. I'm just glad it's fixed. BTW, I love this Forum. Lots of good info.
 
Johnny Dart said:
Off subject here, but may I ask you why you are using Dexcool ?
That is a product, designed for GM cars. If you do a search on it, you will read nightmare stories on the product. Drain that crap while you have a chance.
Click to expand...

I've been running Dexcool for 20 years in 2 big blocks. There is nothing wrong with it other than you not liking GM's. It isn't just made for GM's either. Prestone DEX-COOL meets or exceeds ASTM D3306 and SAE standards for corrosion protection and meets GMW3420 (GM 6277M), Ford WSSM97B44-D and property and performance specification requirements of Chrysler MS12106 (MS-7170 & MS-9769)

If you don't like Dexcool, have a reason. Show how ye olde green stuff is superior. I've seen a lot of racers lately going to Toyota Blue antifreeze. Chemicals have improved over the past 50 years and aluminum radiators and heads have become the norm and commonplace.
 
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Dexcool

HeaderTankMud.jpg
 
So why don't mine look like that? 20 years of service.

Why is this radiator clogged with the green stuff?

The old scuttle butt about Dexcool being junk is pure B/S. When it is used properly, like any other coolant with distilled or de-ionized water there is zero problems with it. (how many people use distilled)? All of your long life coolants today are almost identical to DexCool.

DexCool does not like air in the system and this MAY be one of the causes of some of the problems that can occur.

DexCool is better for the aluminum components, hence why I run it. On a final note, I have seen recommendations that DexCool should be changed just as regularly as traditional green coolant. (every 2 years) Trying to run it for the advertised 5yr/150,000 time frame could also cause the stuff to gum up.

green stuff.jpg
 
I too have had leaking stat housing issues. what worked for me was to drawfile the OE housing (assuming it ain't pitted severely) then cut a piece of gasket material from a sheet as tailor made gaskets are too thin (not referring to the thickness but they ain't wide enough to cover enough interface area between the two metal surfaces). & not overtorque the two bolts which can very slightly bow the housing, enough to cause a very slight leak.
 
I've been running a factory aluminum tstat housing for years with no leaks. All I do is flat sand it and use the cheap stick on gasket with no sealer. Plus I don't kill the bolts when tightening them.
 
justinp61 said:
I've been running a factory aluminum tstat housing for years with no leaks. All I do is flat sand it and use the cheap stick on gasket with no sealer. Plus I don't kill the bolts when tightening them.
Click to expand...

That's a big one. I take the time to torque more bolts than most but it's worth it.
 
For those running the Billet housings with the o-ring, what do you tighten the bolts to? There are no instructions with the packaging.
 
Do not tighten too much. Look to the factory torque specs.

To ensure a Good seal file the intake and thermostat housing flat. Fill in any pits with epoxy and file flat again. Use a good o-ring seal or gasket and torque to spec. If the bolt holes are not blind, use a sealer on the threads.
 
Rocket said:
Do not tighten too much. Look to the factory torque specs.

To ensure a Good seal file the intake and thermostat housing flat. Fill in any pits with epoxy and file flat again. Use a good o-ring seal or gasket and torque to spec. If the bolt holes are not blind, use a sealer on the threads.
Click to expand...

I also had to file the alum. pump housing down, my fault I overtightened it in the first place. Cutting the stat cover down .060 to the inside edge of the bolt holes, leaving a raised ring to press harder on the gasket before the rest touches when pulling it down did the trick, and made my own gasket. pretty cheap chrome one now good.
 
Installed the Billet housing with the o-ring the other day and have gone for a couple of drives. Just reporting back that there are no leaks. Yes it’s expensive but it solved a problem for me. I tried one gasket, two gaskets, different goop (RTV, thermostat housing sealant, #2) none of which worked.
 
Put some silicone grease on the o-ring before installing it, that way it will seal better and won't get stuck to anything. I just used the grease that is normally used on spark plug terminals.

I had excellent luck with the Billet Specialties housing.
 
H22A4 said:
Installed the Billet housing with the o-ring the other day and have gone for a couple of drives. Just reporting back that there are no leaks. Yes it’s expensive but it solved a problem for me. I tried one gasket, two gaskets, different goop (RTV, thermostat housing sealant, #2) none of which worked.
Click to expand...

Using quality parts that get the job done easily and quickly at low stress levels are worth a little extra money.
 
roccodart440 said:
So why don't mine look like that? 20 years of service.

Why is this radiator clogged with the green stuff?

The old scuttle butt about Dexcool being junk is pure B/S. When it is used properly, like any other coolant with distilled or de-ionized water there is zero problems with it. (how many people use distilled)? All of your long life coolants today are almost identical to DexCool.

DexCool does not like air in the system and this MAY be one of the causes of some of the problems that can occur.

DexCool is better for the aluminum components, hence why I run it. On a final note, I have seen recommendations that DexCool should be changed just as regularly as traditional green coolant. (every 2 years) Trying to run it for the advertised 5yr/150,000 time frame could also cause the stuff to gum up.

View attachment 1715041636
Click to expand...

I still have the original dex-cool in my 03 jeep wrangler, I have maybe added less than a pint over the years, and the cooling system still appears clean.
Maybe just luck, but the jeep runs cool, and knock on wood is reliable as a hammer.
 
Going back to last year's post.... I was reading up on the Dexcool/OAT problems a few months ago and ran across this interesting info:

The Dexcool OAT coolant problem is from air getting trapped or entrained in the coolant. It reacts with the air and then does the 'gunky thing'. Corrosion in the 'green stuff' is entirely different and HOAT coolants do not have a this issue either..

Some problems that bring this on :
- Leaks in the coolant recovery system that lets air in the cooling system
- An old system with no coolant recovery system that has to have an air gap at the top of the rad
- Here is the big surprise problem which has caused problems in some engine and not in others: Water pumps cavitating. This goes to the heart of the water pump and cooling system design and in some case cannot be cured.
- Localized boiling that can put air bubbles in the system. This helps push towards more AL heads and will happen more if you have weaker cooling system

Ford has stated that part of their reasons to drop certain engines in the last few years was due to the cooling system design simply not being able to work with these OAT coolants. With the desire to put in 10 year no-change coolants from the factory, which the OAT's are good at, the engine cooling system designs have to be right, and must be changed or scrapped if they cannot work without cavitation or localized boiling.

And Mopar has switched to the OAT's in the CTD's now and I assume other engines.

I'll probably stick the green and the HOAT's (like G05) since they can be mixed and I don't know which old engine design is air-free and which is not.
 
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