Dorman 902-1003 Engine Coolant Thermostat Housing Compatible with Select Ford / Lincoln / Mercury Models

This thing works fine. Using it on my 94 Mustang GT with the 302 engine. These things are known for sometimes leaking upon reinstallation. If yours leaks, make sure you didn't over tighten the bolts. They're only meant to be tightened to 12-18 foot pounds. More than that, and you are likely to bend the aluminum just enough to cause a leak. It's aluminum not steel, so it's easy enough to bend it by over tightening the bolts. If you're not over tightening and it still leaks, try the motorad brand peel and stick gasket.

Fit great easy to put on

The temperature sensor bung is the standard 3/8ths NPT. I didn't see that written anywhere but that's how it's threaded. I needed this for the electric fans on my Foxbody Mustang. I didn't want a sensor in the radiator hose so this was the next best option. I did not use the gasket that came with it, I used a FelPro gasket but the one that came with looks like it was fine and if I didn't have the FelPro then I would have no issue using the one that is included. Tech tip! When installing the thermostat any stock or aftermarket housing can crack if the thermostat slips out of place before the housing is tightened. To avoid this use some RTV gasket silicone and put three SMALL dabs on the thermostat and put that in the housing. Then put three small daps on the gasket where it hits the same housing but in different locations and put the gasket against the housing. This way when you install this housing onto the engine the thermostat and gasket will be kept in place.

Normally we don’t have many problems with Dorman stuff but this housing is made wrong. I kept getting a random leak on the passenger side of the housing, at about 10 o’clock and possibly 7 o’clock. After some troubleshooting I realized the bypass tube is made too far outward. This causes a misalignment with the gasket. This means you have almost zero material clamping the gasket, causing a leak. I tried the Dorman gasket, felpro and ford with the glycol rated rtv. They all leaked. I used a pick too to gauge how far over the bypass tube was vs the gasket and I marked it. There’s maybe 1/8”, possibly less, of gasket material to seal.

On top of a glued in bung, the hole was occluded by the gasket because the hole was not bored right, face of gasket side was so rough it wouldnt seal unless you decked the face, which is more than the part 4/5 stars because great customer service and hassle free refund Im sure if i bought another time it would be fine as long as the glue holds the bung in

Good replacement

I have always had good luck with Dorman products, but this one may not end up that way. I haven't installed it yet, but as others have mentioned, it's a rough casting. So rough that there seams to be quite a bit of grinding and metal removal at the factory to make it acceptable for a customer. I would think that with a better cast the amount of time cleaning up and getting rid of extra metal would save Dorman money when the part is made. But what do I know... I did find a pinhole in the seating surface for the thermostat, which may not be that big of a deal, but I can't tell where/if there is another end to that hole. I guess we will see once it's under pressure. The sealing/gasket suface that mates to the car was really rough. Maybe some gasket sealer would make it work, but I still cleaned it up considerably by running it across some 150 sandpaper on a flat surface. My other out of the box issue is the gasket vs the location of the holes on the housing. They are far enough off for me that I won't be using the gasket sent with the order. Luckily I have another gasket which isn't perfect either, but is much closer. You'll see in one of the pictures attached that I put a small red arrow where the Dorman gasket is so far off that the seat for the thermostat can be seen in the hole cutout for the bypass. Again, because of the kind of part it is and where the "leak" would be says it's a non-issue, but I would still expect the gasket to match up with the housing much better. Lucky for me, the existing housing on my car is good, I just bought this thinking it would save me some dowtime for my electric fan conversion because I would have a new part to replace the old. I guess were going to find out!

Lo esperado

Good delivery time

Works great nice look ..gasket is a bit off holes but worked ..

Beau et bon produit , abordable et livre en 24 hres ; bon achat ...

Casting inside leaving a bur edge, had to die grind and smooth out. Bypass port a little out of line. if you have die grinders i guess its worth the money

A perfect fit for my application