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        General >> Problems >> Temperature Guage in the RED
        
(Message started by: Jimmy on Aug 4^th, 2006, 5:49pm)

Title: Temperature Guage in the RED
Post by Jimmy on Aug 4^th, 2006, 5:49pm

Hi, have 95 executive, the temerature guage goes to middle quite quickly into journey and after a while will creep into the red, the fan kicks in but does not really bring the temperature guage down.

Is it just the hot weather that could be affecting it or are there any other checks I can carry out?

The coolant is full and clear and oil is black and full.

many thanks
Jimmy

Title: Re: Temperature Guage in the RED
Post by pede on Aug 4^th, 2006, 7:09pm

Hi Jimmy,
It could be your thermostat sticking closed.
Could be worth checking.
Pede

Title: Re: Temperature Guage in the RED
Post by Jimmy on Aug 4^th, 2006, 8:15pm

Thank you for the reply, it is a good place to start, I will give it a go over the weekend and let you know.

Thanks
Jimmy

Title: Re: Temperature Guage in the RED
Post by cossieguy on Aug 5^th, 2006, 7:56am

Hi Jimmy, had exactly the same on my Mondeo V6, dont drive the car!!!! It will cause great damage to your H/G. The fault is almost certainly your stat or the water pump. It was the pump in my case easy enough to replace on mondie not sure about Scorps. Good luck. By the way are you getting any hot air through vents? If not would defo point to pump as hot water not getting round system.

Title: Re: Temperature Guage in the RED
Post by Jimmy on Aug 5^th, 2006, 8:44pm

Hi, than you for the reply.

There is hot air coming through the vents, so I assume that means the pump is ok?

The guage has been holding in the middle for short distances (which is all I have used it for - approx 3 miles) but the weather has been a bit cooler!

Title: Re: Temperature Guage in the RED
Post by hellblue on Aug 5^th, 2006, 10:50pm

Hi, it may just be a faulty sender, the water sounds like its going round the system ok. run the car for 10 min or so then feel the rad (ign. off) for any cold spots as a blockage would lead to over heating. on the down side it may be head gasket.

Title: Re: Temperature Guage in the RED
Post by jonnycab on Aug 5^th, 2006, 11:17pm

If the fans are kicking in, & the pump is working okay, & the thermostat is fine. Then I would suspect (as Hellblue says) the temp gauge sender.

Also....an airlock or air in the sysrem can cause the temp gauge to behave erratically. :)

Title: Re: Temperature Guage in the RED
Post by Jimmy on Aug 6^th, 2006, 5:03am

Many thanks for all the replies,

Sunday I will be able to get under the bonnet to start the checks, so hopefully if I have it right, reading the replies, I should:

1 - run engine for 10 mins to identify cold spots to see if there is a blockage

2 - drain the cooling system and check the thermostat opens at 88 degrees

3 - refit thermostat and fill coolant - how do I do this without getting air locks?

I assume I cannot check the sender unit for correct function so hopefully after following above procedure, all will be fine

thanks again to all replies
Jimmy

Title: Re: Temperature Guage in the RED
Post by Simmo on Aug 6^th, 2006, 7:05am

The answer to (3) is to run the engine with the rad cap off tto allow air to escape and it can take a fair while. I think this post by Johnnycab is a great idea. http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=Problems;action=display;num=1142380998;start=15#15.

Title: Re: Temperature Guage in the RED
Post by Jimmy on Aug 6^th, 2006, 1:30pm

Hi, I have the bonnet up (at last!!) ready to start checks.

I have found a hole about the size of a 5p coin in the crankcase ventilation hose (Item #1 on page 2 of the pdf engine file)

http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/manual/engines/dohc16v/DOHC16VRemeNG.pdf

could this have any bearing on over heating?

Title: Re: Temperature Guage in the RED
Post by jonnycab on Aug 6^th, 2006, 6:58pm

I doubt whether it would affect the cooling system, but best to patch it up anyway :)

Title: Re: Temperature Guage in the RED
Post by Jimmy on Aug 6^th, 2006, 10:02pm

All patched up, havent had chance to properly test it yet,

will let you all know the outcome.

thanks again
Jimmy

Title: Re: Temperature Guage in the RED
Post by Baw_Flinger on Aug 6^th, 2006, 10:49pm

Nah, the breather hose would just cause a bit of bad iddle.

Title: Re: Temperature Guage in the RED
Post by Jimmy on Aug 7^th, 2006, 12:13pm

Ok, johnnycab and Baw_Flinger were right, fixing hole in the hose didnt make a difference to temperature, my wife didnt really notice a change in juddering either.

So the situation remains, from cold, the engine will appear to reach normal running temperature within about 3 minutes. It will hold at normal position for a while (normally takes me 10 minutes to get to work and it remains at normal)

My wife went on a longer journey (approx 20 minute drive) and noticed it creep up to just below red line. She was idle in traffic for a little while and the fans bought the temp guage down a bit. She did say she drove carefully without putting too much strain on the engine.

When she arrived home, the fans were going and she left engine at idle, the guage went up a little before coming back down.

There are no apparent cold spots on rad.

Now the guage only seems to go up to the line and not into the red so obviously thats a good sign considering the weather is still quite hot.

I will monitor it for a while but thanks to pede, cossieguy, hellblue, johnnycab, simmo, and Baw_Flinger for all the advice and help.

Jimmy

Title: Re: Temperature Guage in the RED
Post by jonnycab on Aug 8^th, 2006, 12:17am

Juddering.....you didn't mention that before?

P.S. I take it you haven't drained the cooling system yet. It could well be something as simple as needing a new thermostat :)

Title: Re: Temperature Guage in the RED
Post by Baw_Flinger on Aug 8^th, 2006, 8:12am

That could be a fair one and would explain a lot. Then again, I had the same symptoms when my HG went. If you switch off the engine and restart, does the temp gauge jump up a bit above half and stay there until it starts the oveheat? I replaced thermostat, hoses and collant bottle/cap before I finaly gave in and had a pressure test done and confirmed it was HG. I had no contaminants or water usage origonaly and the only thing my mechanic picked up on was a rock solid/ballooning top rad hose. I hope it is not the case mate, but may help :)

Title: Re: Temperature Guage in the RED
Post by Jimmy on Aug 8^th, 2006, 8:16am

Sorry, the juddering wasnt a real issue, it was only slight and we put it down to being lazy with the clutch. It was only when I found the hole in the hose and read it could cause juddering.

No I hadnt drained the system, I was limited for time at weekend and came up with the hole so I thought I would give it a go to see if it would help.

This is one of the reasons I am not a mechanic.

Checking the stat next weekend is on top of the agenda.

thanks agian
Jimmy

Title: Re: Temperature Guage in the RED
Post by sector-9 on Aug 14^th, 2006, 10:47pm

My money (if I had any) is on the radiator being clogged. Take it for a run so that it gets hot (well above half way) and then pull over and turn off the engine. Check the temperature of the radiator top and bottom hoses - the bottom one should be much cooler if you've been moving at any speed. If that's almost as hot as the top hose then it's likely the radiator is not transfering heat effectively to the airstream and it'll need to be removed and back-flushed initially, but possibly replacing.

If the bottom hose is fairly cool (check it immediately after stopping otherwise the hot coolant will warm it up and spoil the test) then the problem lies elsewhere. I don't think it would be the thermostat but it's a possibility.

Do you know if any radiator sealant has been added previously? These have a habit of causing more trouble than they fix...

Darren

P.S.

What engine do you have?

Title: Re: Temperature Guage in the RED
Post by Jimmy on Sep 11^th, 2006, 1:46pm

;D ;D ;D ;D

Hi, finally got time to do the checks and it was the thermostat sticking closed.

stat & seal ring £13.40 from local Ford Dealer. So I am very Happy ;D

many thanks for all your help
Jimmy

Title: Re: Temperature Guage in the RED
Post by cossieguy on Sep 11^th, 2006, 2:43pm

Nice one, not very often it's the cheapest link in the chain that fixes the fault but looks like you got lucky :)