T444e... does thermostat housing use a gasket?

[TheHubbardBus]

Just making sure. I'm fairly certain the thermostat itself does the sealing (rubber gasket surrounding thermostat, and a part of it), but want to make sure before messing this up. I did a search online & found gaskets that look like they're made just for it (likely for the 7.4 PS). Any help would be grealy appreciated. Finishing this up today if I can...

[Jolly Roger bus 223]

i dont know your specific one?
normally the thermostat drops in and are directional and the thermostat housing gets a gasket to seal it to the block/intake.

[cadillackid]

My T444E the thermostat has a rubber O-ring and there is no housing gasket.. That said.. there are shoddy replascement thermostats..

I think I even have a thread somewhere on how I bought replacement IH thermostats and the O-ring on the new one was a few 1000ths thinner than the original stat.. and it leaked.. in that case my old O ring was still plyable and in good shape so I moved it to the new stat. but its definitely worth eyeballing the new vs old before you put it on and have it leak.. since my 444E has an air compressor it makes getting to the Tstat bolts a PITA.. if you dont have the air brake compressor you have an easier time..

[TheHubbardBus]

Thanks guys. Do have air brakes / compressor, but bolts weren't bad with a couple extensions & a magnetic socket. Figured the gasket on the thermostat (oem - international) was all there was but it never hurts to ask considering the PITA it would have been if I was wrong.

Wish I had as much luck with the coolant filter. Bus never came with one... there's a metal cap in its place with a 1" hex in the center. Real awkward to reach and not feeling like breaking. Think I might give up on the filter idea but I'll try again tomorrow. I see busted, bloodly knuckles in my immediate future.

[cadillackid]

interesting!.. I learned osmething new.. i was thinking all the IH had coolant filters and the fords did not.. apparently like all things School-bus is there's about as many variations as there are busses built!.

[TheHubbardBus]

It came with the provision for one. It's exactly the same water pump as yours I'm sure, including the lever which opens/closes the flow path through the filter. There's just no filter. The metal cap replaces it. I'm guessing that since it was a 2003 which started life with ELC they didn't see a need?

Filter I bought is chemical/additive/sca free (Baldwin 5090). Just figured if I could add a filter to the system it could only potentially help. But unless it gets weaker or I get stronger...

[cadillackid]

Never thought about that they went to ELC from the factory on those. I knew the 99.5 and up are compatible but I e seen up through 02 with green. Mystery solved they went ELC in 03.. I run a non SCA filter as I switched to ELC 5 years ago or so. I’m not sure what the filter does on a non SCA setup I should change the filter for kicks and cut open the old to see if it caught stuff.. but I’ll wait for when it’s not 6 degrees out .. my coolant always looks like clear Kool Aid whenever I pull a little out to look at it..