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Can a bad thermostat or thermostat housing harm engine?

My Jeep Grand Cherokee has a bad thermostat housing. Can this harm the engine or is it just an incovenience?

Public Comments

1. It's the thermostat that u have 2 worry about- if it sticks closed..Replace the housing if it's broke & leaking
2. if you keep a constant eye on your fluid levels then no . but if the crack in the housing becomes worse then you could have a major overheating problem that will cause a head gasket to fail or warping of the head. just get a replacement housing it is only 2 bolts to take out and a little scraping to remove the old gasket and no more worries ..but if the thermostat goes bad it will cause an increase in presseur that can ruin your radiator or your motor.
3. If it is the thermostat it can cause the engine to over heat and warp the head and/or cause mechanical damage. If it is just a leaking gasket or crack in the housing it can leak enough to cause the head to get hot and cause problems because of low coolant levels. Get it fixed cause either will cause more problems over time and both are easy fixs.
4. Any kind of coolant leak means serious trouble. The laws of thermodynamics say for every leak there is a 2-fold repercussion. 1'st. you are loosing coolant and 2'nd. you are introducing air. Between the 2 you are allowing the system to fail quickly. A catastrophic failure of the engine is eminent under this scenario because the engine depends on the cooling system to survive. My experience on some cars designed without an integral water bypass means these systems are doomed to fail. I've learned to drill the outer ring of a conventional thermostat with 1/8th. in. holes to insure that this bypass can occur and stop any air-locks from forming in the engine. This modification also insures that the radiator can be completely filled without any sudden drops and raises of the coolant with-in. The manufacture'ers are true con-artists in this one aspect.- They program your certain failure for future insane profit.