broken thermostat?

I know this whole thing will make me look like a DA but try not to be too hard on me. A while back I got a thing from the local jeep dealership to get a free checkup on my XJ. I took it in and they told me I need a new water pump and so since I dont know much about it and I knew I have been slowly leaking antifreeze I told them to go ahead and replace it. They called me and asked if I wanted the thermostat replaced too and I told them no. They replaced just the water pump and this was November 5th. Today I checked under the hood and I my antifreeze resevoir is out of coolant. I was wondering if anyone thinks I should replace my thermostat and how I can look at it and tell if it actually needs it and also how I should handle this with the dealership. Thanks in advance for your help. I have a '98 4.0 sport with about 75,000 miles on it.
Daniel

The thermostat will not cause you to loose coolant. Fill your coolant and wait to see how it does. It may have just not been completly filled after the H20 pump replacement. If your temp. is not running hot and staying at a constant temp. then your thermostat is fine. The only way to check a thermostat is to remove the housing and pull the thermostat, which if you do that you might as well just replace it as thermostats are only a few bucks at the local parts store.

If you're not used to working on a vehicle, don't attempt to check the thermostat. I would say this is not the problem anyway. Fill with distilled water to the proper level and see if it stays that way. If not, take it back to the dealer...

btw, isn't 75k a little soon for the water pump to go?

I though 75k was a bit early too, should have got a second opinion but for once my parents offered to pay for it so I figured I might as well get it replaced. I got in touch with the dealership and they just said fill it with water and take it in next week, hopefully just something bad on their part so it won't cost anymore $$$.

It sounds like after the water pump replacement there may have been some trapped air or it wasn't topped off with coolant. In either case fill it up and keep an eye on it. BTW the thermostat won't make you loose coolant

mudhound32 said:

It sounds like after the water pump replacement there may have been some trapped air or it wasn't topped off with coolant. In either case fill it up and keep an eye on it. BTW the thermostat won't make you loose coolant

Click to expand...

Exactly...

I bet you're just fine, but don't drive more than ~50 miles between checks for the next 500 miles. That way you can be safe and probably avoid any possible damage if there is a problem.