it never ends..a little advice please

[blkmonday]

ill try to keep this short the best I can. 08 explorer 4x4 limited 78k v8. bought it used a bout 4 months ago. love it...well sort of. blew my radiator about a month and a half ago. had it replaced at Firestone $1300 said they did the thermostat and flushed it as well. truck ran nice and cool after that...all set. until, a little over a week ago I was driving on highway and a transmission line to the radiator blew out. blew trans fluid all over the engine compartment. had to have the truck towed..it was smoking so bad I really thought I nuked my truck/ luckily just a trans line but what a mess. my buddies garage took the truck. had to replace both lines since the dealer only sold them in pairs. had him change the trans filter and flush since it was empty and there anyways. picked the truck up a week later (parts needed to be ordered from dealer) $800 bucks including the tow. sucks but ok. driving it about a mile from my buddies garage and the ac stopped working and then the temp gauge got HOT. pulled over and shut it off before it overheated. called buddy and he met me with his wrecker to check it out. let it cool down started it up, runs fine but after about 8 minutes...boom ac blows warm and temp gauge races up. shut it off then start it back up..temp gauge seems at normal range, but then after a few minutes same thing! he towed it back and is working on it today. thinking maybe a loose wire or he unplugged a sensor or something while doing trans lines. cant find anything. he just called and said he thinks its the thermostat. he tested the "anti freeze" firestone "replaced" and said its 90% water. he said the pressure in the upper hose feels like the thermostat isn't opening. needless to say I told him to change out the anti freeze and replace the thermostat and go from there.........has anyone ever had this happen or my other theory that the temp sending unit got hosed in trans fluid and is sending a false random reading? is that even possible? any advice would be great. im over my head and running out of money and patience

[shorod]

The erratic temp gauge readings and possibly even the thermostat appearing to not open could be due to an air pocket in the cooling system from when the system was drained and filled by Firestone and later by your buddy. Before getting too concerned with the sending unit and thermostat, I'd first confirm that the air is all purged from the cooling system.

-Rod

[blkmonday]

thank you for the reply. it very well could have just been air in there from the radiator job. since the coolant was mostly water i ended up having it flushed again and threw in a new thermostat. they burped the system and all is good now. i have spent over $2000 in repairs on this truck since i bought it 3 months ago. I love it, but damn! at the end of the day its my personal vehicle and i just want it right. new tires will be next..then maybe a Gibson cat back system. we will see