thermostat probem?

well to make a VERY long story short, i got my car back earlier today...it had to go back to the shop cause the oil pump went bad. got that replaced and got it back today. i put $10 worth of gas in it, drove about a mile down the road and i noticed a weird clunking noise from the engine...i look at my gagues and the temperature gague was reading HIGH...took it back to the shop and the dude said it could be the thermostat and he'll replace it ASAP tomorrow morning...could anything else be causing this problem? i just want this damn car to run properly, it's been nothing but a headache ever since i got it :(

When I read that the oil pump failed, the first thing I did was look to your sig to see what year it was. Ah yes, a 7 bolt. My next thought was: In my personal experience, any time the oiling system fails, partially or wholly, the motor will crankwalk. This applies to 6 bolts, but not so strictly. They are much hardier engines. Then you mention clunking and overheating... I am willing to bet they are unrelated, and the clunking is a failed rod bearing, since those can also fail very quickly when the oil pressure drops, even for a couple seconds. I hate to see this happening to poeple, but its time to start looking into CW. Read the sticky on RKO about CW in the DSM section, esepcially how to measure it. Do this, or have your mechanic do this (if you still infact trust him). If the motor is CWed, then there is no point going further with petty things like thermostats, until you deced what you want to do about the CW problem. I'll be happy to help you work through it all, but the first thing to do is measure the crankshafts end/thrust play per the sticky thread at RKO.

well i know for a fact it isn't CW because the short block was just replaced recently due to CW. i have had this car since the beginning of October. when i got it, the clutch and trannie blew. got a new clutch and trannie then i noticed the clutch would keep sticking to the floor. took it back and my mechanic found that it had CW. so he stuck a new short block in it. then i got it back for a day and then the oil pump blew. took it back to get it repaired. then i got it back yesterday and that is when my engine over heated and made a clunking sound. it's not the ticking sound that points to CW (trigger plate rubbing against the sensor) but it made just a few clunks and when i heared them, i noticed my engine temp sky high. almost everything in this car is brand new. i'm really tired of getting it back for a day or two and finding something else wrong with it :( so do you think this really could be the thermostat causing this recent problem?

thanks for the help

It doesnt matter that it is a new block. Like I said above, any time the oil system fails you run a VERY high chance or crankwalking. If I read what you said above, the oil pump failed on the new block. And any mechanic that doesnt replace the oil pump with the block, is an asshat ;)

lol. he told me that he replaced the oil pump when he replaced the short block. but when it blew he said it was a defective pump because the bearing was too big or something. anyway i have less than 200 miles on this new short block. do you really think i have CW again? this car is a nightmare, i swear :(

well guess what...got my car back earlier, ran fine for a while...then i noticed the exhaust getting more and more dense. then it became so bad that i didn't have any visibility out of my rear view mirror...also noticed a kind of screeching sound when i shifted...took it back to the mechanic and he said it was the turbo causing the trouble...he said that when the oil pump blew it must have affected the turbo. hopefully i won't have to pay for a new turbo...ahhh this nightmare just keeps getting worse and worse. :( :(

There are exactly zero (0) bearings in the oil pump, so give your mechanic a kit in the nuts for me next time you see him. ;) I'm not saying you have CW, but I am saying it would be the right thing to do to measure it now. Driving on a bad oil pump certainly can kill the turbo. T25s can be bought in good shape for ~75 bucks. Labor should be free since you didnt have a bad pump, you had a bad mechanic.

$75 isn't too bad for a T25...so do you think the turbo really is to blame for all that exhaust and weird sounds? i'm hoping it's not something really major even though my mechanic said it was the turbo...i just wanna be sure

thanks for the help

No way to be "sure" what it is over the internet. All I can hope to do is give you the info you need to be sure you are asking your mechanic the right questions and making the right decisions.

well got some good news...found out earlier that they're going to cover my turbo because the oil pump was the main reason for the turbo going bad...so i get a new turbo :D comes in next friday...just hope NOTHING else goes wrong with this car after the new turbo is installed...