Last year,I posted up about changing my thermostat in my '07 with an aftermarket one. And what prompted the change was the temp gauge was not reading,and the DIC displaying dashes for the coolant temp reading as well as a CEL. The aftermarket one worked despite the gauge working intermittently.The inspection was due,and the CEL was on still,so to fix it once and for all,I replaced the thermostat with a AC Delco.
Started the car,watched the coolant circulate after 10 minutes,then capped it and shut it off. No leaks. All done.No issues.
Well,10 minutes later,my wife tried to start the car,and it wouldn't start. I went out and tried to start it,and holding my foot to the floor,it fired up for a second,then died.Tried again,same result So,I came here and searched,and after reading the threads,decided to wait a while and try again. It fired up,but I had to give it gas for it to stay running. So,I shut it off,and couldn't restart it.
The next day,i got it to start,but it ran rough,and I had to rev it to keep it running,so I called for the shop to tow it. They called back a few hours later saying it was getting too much fuel and flooding the engine. Three days later,I get the call that it's fixed.

What it boiled down to was:the new thermostat gave the car a heart attack. The mechanic said the scanner was coming back with a code P0128 and they couldn't figure out why until today. The coolant sensor went bad,and caused the fuel regulator to short out,which was causing the fuel to dump in and flood the engine.They replace both and solved the problem. They were baffled over how the coolant sensor affected the fuel regulator. I'm still wondering if the coolant sensor was the issue that I was having last year that everyone said was the thermostat,including AuroZone when I had them scan it.

So,I am posting this as a cautionary tale in case this happens to anyone else.

 

A quick look at a wiring diagram would likely answer their question. Both use low ref, digital ground.

 

 

After reading the title, I would advise buying a Male car. Mine never complained about the thermostat. LOL!

 

Got the infamous ------F and CEL yesterday post the oil @ 10 % warning light. No temp gauge readings.
OBD code reader came up with P0128, P0304.
Now here's the problem; I cleared the codes to read them again as they would come up BUT nothing did. Temperature gauge is back to reading normally and no misfire readings, no CEL at all.
Never did run rough etc. so i thought the p0304 was an "off" reading.
Now its a waiting game to see why this happened in the first place. 2006 with 73K on her.

 

You could be proactive, start diagnosing the po304 misfire. Swap coil packs #3 and #4, swap spark plugs #2 and #4. Then if the misfire comes back, but on #2 or #3, you'll know what the problem is. If it comes back on #4, probably fuel injector.

The p0128 is almost always the thermostat.

Has the coolant ever been changed?

 

Funny thing is, there never was a misfire, not one that i noticed anyway and no CEL for one. (when my Ford get that code you can smell the gas being poured in as the lean code makes the mixture too rich).
Got her in March of 2016 and have not changed the Dexcool in that period, it does look low in coolant reservoir by the fan though.(no leaks).
If the p0128 comes up again I'll go with the AC Delco thermostat you guys have been advising.

Only problem i have had is with the Cam Position sensor, had to change that out as a code popped up and she would bang into gear (auto trans).

 

DexCool has a 5 year shelf life, mileage does not matter, unless it has overheated.

P0128 only triggers when the condition exists, it clears itself if it does not happen in 2 consecutive cycles. The computer measures the coolant temp against the volume of air ingested from a cold start, if it does not meet expectations the code is triggered.

It is not uncommon that it comes on while driving to the 7-11 to get some beer and not come back while driving home. The ambient temp has a role also; if it is hot the coolant gets to operating temp quicker.

The basic meaning is that the coolant did not reach operating temp fast enough, the usual reason is that the t-stat is stuck open or the sending unit is bad, occasionally the MAF or the . When a P0128 is set there may not be a CEL, the AC compressor will not function and the digital temp gauge will display ---.

The coolant in the recovery tank should come up to the first bend in the tank cold. You should frequently check the level under the pressure cap, because there are several reasons that the coolant recovery system can malfunction.

P0304 means that the computer AlGorithm sensed 2 or more misfires in a cold start cycle. You would never notice a misfire that the computer can sense.