Hi all...my daughters 04 KA 1.3 duratec engine has a leaking thermostat housing...the plastic type.

I fiited a new one 2 years ago...now its leaking again.

Ordered a new one...stripped it down today to find the old one looked find...O ring intact...but some corrosion on the mating face on the head where the housing bolts to.

This is spoiling the flat mating siurface....I have scraped it clean...at its worse the corosion is about 1mm deep...I have thought about smearing RTV silicon on to take up the gap.

Any ideas guys.

Its had Ford type anti freeze in from new.

Nick.

 

Silicone or a gasket sealer should be fine, refit the housing with it then let it dry overnight before filling up and seeing what happens.

 

Ok will do...is that a common prob do you know...the corrosion.

 

I could never get silicone gasket to seal tidy on the other halfs KA.
Ended up spending an hour with some fine sand paper until I got the head super smooth and than fitted a new housing and gasket.

 

How badly pitted was yours Bailes....you did well to get it flat.

 

I just realised you said yours was 1mm deep in places. Mine was nowhere near that bad I must admit. Could you use a chemical metal to try and build up the corrosion?

 

Use multi purpose grease on the rubber o ring prior to re fitting housing. Old mechanics trick obviously after getting the mating surface clean and flat.

 

Getting the mating surface would bequite a task...I would think I would need to remove the head and have the face machined flat.

 

Maybe use chemical metal to fill in the imperfections and sand it down flat when it's dried? I'm just assuming the corrosion has eaten into the head and left an indent?

 

Thats correct it has...strange thing is the corrosion is under the housing but in a place where there is no contact with coolant.

Upto now the silicon is holding up.

 

Yeah I think if it was me and it's clean but with indents rather than taking the head off I'd try filling the indents with chemical metal and then sanding it back down flat. If that works then at least you've saved yourself a heap of work, if not then at least u tried. What engine is in your kA?

 

Its a 1.3 Duratec 2004 model.