2000 Honda Accord thermostat

2000 Honda Accord 72,500 miles

On Saturday evening there was smoke coming from my engine. I was in downtown Manhattan and not near the garage I usually go to, but a man walking by noticed the problem and said he was an auto mechanic and could help me. He crawled under the engine and banged something and said it was fixed. He said the problem was that the thermostat pins were locked (or un-locked.I don't recall which it was) and they had slipped out of position. He said he had knocked them back into place and there shouldn't be any more problem. He also put more fluid into the radiator. All I had in the car was windshield wiper fluid so he used that and some plain water. The car then worked fine, and was fine yesterday when I drove it.

This morning I took it into the garage I usually go to and they said they had no idea what the guy was talking about. They said there are NOT any thermostat pins! Instead, they thought the problem might have been that the clamp/s around the hose from the radiator might have expanded and released some of the fluid, and when that hit the hot engine it caused the steam which looked like smoke.

Do you have any thoughts about this? Does the thermostat have - or not have - pins. Or some other part that one might think of as pins?

Thanks for whatever insights you might have.