IHDude18

im going to buy a 1990 f150 that has a bad thermostat, i was wondering what is the best on to buy and where to get it. I was looking at the 195f fail safe one from o'rielly, it is a 300i6. Would it tare anything up if i drive the 70 miles home if i watch the gauge and shut it down if it gets to hot. It is going to be in the 20's. I'm new but i have been reading post for a few days and you all have good info so i decided to sign up. Another thing is you don't cut people down like those search button ****'s, thanks for any info.

str8dogg

I have a 89 FI50 and I had to go to the dealership to get mine because OReilly's didn't carry the right one. When you remove the theromostat take a look at it and make sure that it is the same style as the one you are buying. Yours may not make a difference, but blowing up your engine is something i wouldn't play with. The termostat that I bought was rated at 195f with a vent to allow the thermostat to fail open and not closed (if needed) and burn out my engine. It ran me $14 after tax, but I have peace of mine. Part number (RT-1139) XRR3Z-8575-BA if this helps.

IHDude18

ok thank you but do you think it would be safe to drive it with the other one stuck close if i shut it off and let it cool down before it got to hot

tonkatruck66

would it be okay to drive without brakes and just turn off the road when you have to stop?

IHDude18

That sounds a little rude the high is going to be 22 degrees f so i doht it get that hot and i'm not going to drive past it to go pick up my diesel and trailer and drive 140 miles to get it but i will probilly drive it to the parts store and just fix it there it wont take 10 minutes.

Just call me Sean

iTrader: (1)

It's your truck, if you want to chance it by driving it then go ahead. Honestly, if I couldn't change the thermostat on the side of the road I would drive it home too. It would just take a while.

Make sure you buy the performance thermostat of the proper opening temperature. If you buy a colder one the engine won't run right and fuel economy will drop because the computer will think the truck isn't warmed up and keep it in closed loop. The cheap thermostats suck because they don't last and they like to stick closed.

IHDude18

do you have any recomendation on brand i want the 195thats supost to be oem and im going to invest in a manual and code read too thanks for the reply.

str8dogg

The brand name O'Reilly's sold me was Murrays part number 3009. The part from Ford was a motorcraft with part number as given above. As I mentioned you may want to remove the thermostat and make sure that the one they give you is similar to the one you pull out. As I mentioned, they DIDN'T give me the correct one and didn't think that it mattered, ahh but it does!!! Yours may be different. Also the one I got was NOT the high performance one, it was the cheap $3.99 but still rated at 195f, designed to stick closed. So you will have to make the decisiond, but hopefully you will have something tangible to go by. You would be taking a risk to drive it while stuck closed, especially if for some reason you didn't realize it until the smoke cleared, or you are stuck in a lane and can't get over to shut it down. Been there done that with an oil leak and thru a rod.

IHDude18

my saturn had a cracked block and the oil leaked into the antifreeze didnt know it at time and i threw a rod it wasnt pretty yeah im going to get the $12 on that is designed to stick open im going to just fix it in o'rielly's parking lot i guess im buying another set of tool lol

IHDude18

if that isn't the right one then they also carry the motorcraft one you mention above so i can switch it if it doesnt fit