Thermostat MotoRad or Motorcraft
I found an exact copy of the factory thermostat with the baby one next to the primary the Amazon description says it’s good up to a 2000. It’s a Motorad. My temp never moves from the set point.
Big fan of the Motorad SNN-2000-195. Works great.
The Motorcraft thermostat sounds promising though, never have an issue with genuine ford parts.
I used a motorcraft RT-1139 thermostat. Comes with a jiggle valve to help bleed air already installed and cost me 8 bucks. You won’t find any place that says they fit other than some forum posts but they do indeed work, I installed one on my MJ with the only issue being me not refilling the radiator after dumping all the coolant.
Just so happens my clearance thermostat is a Motorad which has the VW/Audi p/n cast on the housing!
I remembered the old thermostat looking like it did, so I waited a few hours to let the engine cool down then swapped the new thermostat for the old one, turned the engine on and no overheating. I've been driving the car as it is for a while now without any problems other than I can't drive long-distance without it running too hot (ex. I drove 4 hours a couple times a year traveling for college, and in the summer the car sometimes would overheat by the time I got to my destination).
I bought a Motorcraft thermostat from the Ford dealer for my Crown Vic and it ran about 20 degrees cold.
I had issues with the MotoRad that every parts store in Canada seems to sell
issue that i noticed is that the jiggle pin is inside the bridge, compared to the standard one. i have installed the thermostat, bled the coolant, and still made sure that the jiggle pin and head gasket carve out lines up at the 12oclock position when installing; but now theres some ticking noise sometimes and i can feel my heater blowing really hot air (warmer than the usual heat).
Motorad isn't a good brand. You don't want to do the job again in a year.
Write your review
Help others - share your experience with this part.