I changed my thermostat in my 2000 lincoln ls, right after the lines would not fill with coolant, i then opened the black cap above the thermostat to bleed the air, it then began to leak really bad from the bottom area of the engine, i couldnt see where it was coming from. what do you believe is leaking and/or what do you think caused it? it also will not kick out any heat as it he.ated up, and i ran 3 gallons of coolant through fast
The lack of heat is not your problem right now. You problem is the coolant loss and the likely resulting engine overheating followed by engine damage. Don't drive or warm up that beast until you fix the problem.
It is very difficult to look under your car from here to find the leak. If it not obvious to you, you need someone with some knowledge of such things to do it for you. If you don't have a friend who is willing to help, then the natural solution is the professional mechanic. I recommend a local Independent mechanic and do avoid those chain operations. We have a list of mechanics that have been recommended by people like yourself here. Look for the Mechanx(sp?) files.The obvious answer is “whatever you took apart is leaking”. I’ve gotten many leaks when I took things apart. My experience has been that a little RTV applied to the mating surfaces and allowed to cure overnight before putting any fluids back in helps tremendously - but not 100%. BTW, by fluids I mean water, antifreeze, oil, etc.
I find it strange that opening the cap caused the leak (unless that was the source of the leak) and that you got 3 gallons emptied out (How did you know it was 3 gallons if it is still leaking?)
“opening the cap caused the leak” is probably because opening the cap let in air so the fluid could drain out. I.e., with the cap closed, the system was like a bottle of water held upside down – nothing comes out. (This probably tells us something about the sealing of the coolant reservoir and its height relative to the cap.)
If this is correct, then you might have to keep the cap off (or otherwise air into the system) when you inspect for the leak.
This says nothing about the “coincidence” of the leak occuring when you changed the thermostat. I’d wonder what you might have accidentally loosened or damaged, including making sure the leak is from the bottom, and not from somewhere higher up and just showing up when it drips out the bottom.
Good luck.
another double post…
The lack of heat IS A HUGE PROBLEM!! This means you do not have coolant flowing through your engine!! If you are driving the vehicle or running the engine long enough to reach operating temp and you do not have heat, you are in danger of doing serious damage to the engine! The temp sensor that attaches to your temp guage senses the temp of the coolant in the engine. If there is no coolant, the engine can be red-hot and will show no heat on the guage. Find the leak and get it sealed before you run the engine again and hopefully, you haven’t warped the heads or done any other damage!
I wonder if the thermostat got reversed during installation…