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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tbuck07" data-source="post: 712333" data-attributes="member: 10400">OK guys..Sorry, but I'm needing help with my 4.0 explorer..Recently I was going down the interstate to go to my gf's house (To get some bow chicka wow wow...) anyway..And noticed my temp gauge was middle needle of the little thermostat sign. I figured it was 85 degrees out, it was normal. But then it slowly climbed higher..which I thought was odd, as Im on the intrestate going 65..should keep it cool. So I turned the heat on and went to the gf's house to let it cool down..drove it home that night in the 65 degree weather, seemed ok. Drove it to work in the morning without problems..but coming home in the evening during the 80 degree weather it would start to overheat, and has gotten past the thermostat sign, almost to where the needle was standing straight up. Never got to the H part on the gauge, and I made sure to have my heat on..So yesterday I went ahead and replaced the thermostat, figuring it could be that. This morning after putting coolant in it, drove it about 2 miles and it started getting hot, fast. So I pulled over and shut it off to cool it down..took it home and took my car to work. What was odd was my coolant resovior was still at "full when cold" mark, and my radiator cap was ice cold.I just got back inside after trying to run the truck for a minute with the cap off, as it needed a little more coolant still, but it started spilling, so I put the radiator cap back on..held it at 2,000 rpm to warm it up and let it get near middle gauge. But it just kept climing and stayed steady while it was standing nearly up and down. Never cooled back down. I felt the cap..it was cold..the upper radiator hose was pretty hot. Resovior at the same spot.I talked to my grandpa whos worked as a Ford mechanic for decades..he said hes never seen a water pump go back in those trucks, but I myself am not ruling that out..but what else could be wrong? Should I run it longer with the cap off to try to get any air pockets out of the system? I did put the thermostat in how I took it out..Maybe I have a defective thermostat? (Not sure what the chances are of that..)Any ideas please help. Thank you.</blockquote>