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        General >> Problems >> Temperature Gauge Problems
        
(Message started by: mondeoman on Oct 13^th, 2009, 8:01pm)

Title: Temperature Gauge Problems
Post by mondeoman on Oct 13^th, 2009, 8:01pm

My wife has reported that her 2.3 Scorpio Ultima's temperature gauge keeps moving from warm (mid point of gauge) to cold (blue) whilst she has been driving the car. She has also reported that the climate control did not seem to be working very well as she was cold in the car despite the setting at max.

Any ideas what might be causing the trouble and possible solutions etc?

Cheers,

Mondeoman

Title: Re: Temperature Gauge Problems
Post by scorpio_man on Oct 13^th, 2009, 9:30pm

hi there

could be the thermostat as the 2.3 is bad for these, but could also be the sensor.

re the climate control. do a reset as per the website and see if that helps.

hth

Title: Re: Temperature Gauge Problems
Post by Tekno on Oct 14^th, 2009, 2:01pm

Sometimes my temp gauge also drops to "zero". Changing thermostat and temperature sensor didn't help

Title: Re: Temperature Gauge Problems
Post by Snoopy on Oct 14^th, 2009, 2:35pm

The BIG connecting plug on the drivers side inner wing is usually the culprit, well worth undoing the nut on the top and spraying the contacts with cleaner and assembling a couple of times, a KNOWN source of bad connections.

Title: Re: Temperature Gauge Problems
Post by mondeoman on Oct 14^th, 2009, 5:04pm

Snoopy,

Will it be easy for me to find the connector? I take you mean it located in the engine compartment on the left hand side by the wheel arch etc? Otherwise where do you mean by inner wing?

Do you think that might also effect the climate control, giving it false readings and hence not use any heat from the engine, because it thinks it's cold?

Cheers,

Mondeoman

Title: Re: Temperature Gauge Problems
Post by homer2themax on Oct 14^th, 2009, 5:19pm

Mondeoman,
Have you tried resetting the CC?
See here http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/ccreset.htm
Hope it helps.
Mark

Title: Re: Temperature Gauge Problems
Post by Snoopy on Oct 15^th, 2009, 7:45am

The plug I refer to is shown in item 6 on this Page http://www.fordscorpio.co.uk/manual/engines/dohc16v/DOHC16VRemeNG.pdf

Credit to an even older man for this info!

Title: Re: Temperature Gauge Problems
Post by NormanHall on Oct 15^th, 2009, 7:38pm

My temp guage has done this like forever but dont look at it it does not affect the running

Title: Re: Temperature Gauge Problems
Post by mondeoman on Oct 15^th, 2009, 7:51pm

Thanks everyone, I've tried as suggested and cleaned the plug and reset the climate control, so it's a waiting game now.

Just want to take this chance to say thanks to everyone for all the help and advice I've been getting on here, it's so nice.

Title: Re: Temperature Gauge Problems
Post by tlundkvi on Oct 15^th, 2009, 8:45pm

One thing, you did check all coolant levels (and made sure there's no air lock), shortage of coolant will cause the needle to sometimes go up and drop again to normal. If coolant level is low, I think the system is constructed in such a way flow to the heater matrix is automatically sacrificed. This without valves etc. I had this symptom going on, and this was the reason (no drop to blue though). If the air becomes cold at the same time needle goes up, it can point to this problem.

Title: Re: Temperature Gauge Problems
Post by Jonnycab on Oct 16^th, 2009, 1:39am

Cold air in the car & temp guage dropping could be down to low coolant or airlock as tlundkvi suggests.
Could also be a stuck open thermostat, as scorpio_man suggests. With a stuck open thermostat the temp will usually be fine around town at low speed, but when on the open road (with rushing air cooling the rad), the temp guage tends to drop & the heater start blowing cold.

But it could possibly be that you have two unrelated problems causing the symptoms..... :-/

It could be that the temp gauge sender is faulty (suggested earlier) or the wiring to it is making a bad connection, or the guage itself is faulty (bad solder joint)....
Pull off the plug from the sender & bridge the connections in the plug. With the ignition on, the gauge should rise fully into the red & stay there. If it does, then it means the gauge & wiring are fine & it is most likely a faulty sender.

As for the cold air blowing out when set to hot... check the in & out pipes to the heater matrix when the engine is hot.....they should both be the same temp & too hot to hold for more than a few seconds. If the inlet is hot but the outlet is cold/cooler, then you could have a blocked/restricted matrix.

Hope this helps :)

Title: Re: Temperature Gauge Problems
Post by Tekno on Oct 16^th, 2009, 5:09am

you can also hold trip meter button and check what values temp sender gives. If it's 255 or so, your gauge is not faulty but something else.

I get sometimes 255 and sometimes works normally.. haven't found where problem is.. changed: temp sensor, thermostat and checked instrument panel's connections, fluid level..
heater works normally though, after I replaced heater matrix. That was horrible job ;D

Title: Re: Temperature Gauge Problems
Post by homer2themax on Oct 26^th, 2009, 11:23pm

My temp gauge seems to have a life of its own too.
Held the trip reset button in while driving and cycled to the eng temp setting several times and got some very erratic readings coinciding with the movements on the gauge.
Flitting around the 255 mark gauge reads cold.
Hanging around the 160-180 mark and needle is at bottom of norm.
127ish and the gauge is sat perfectly in the middle.
Thing is it was almost never still, it would flicker around these numbers constantly and for no apparent reason gauge would go up and down depending on the readout. Heater works normally and to be fair it moves so quickly sometimes that its impossible for the engine to cool down so fast. Especially while driving at speed.
Does seem to do it mostly when cold outside or at speed though.
If I get it sorted I will let you know.
Mark

Title: Re: Temperature Gauge Problems
Post by Snoopy on Oct 27^th, 2009, 7:52am

Speed Does have a tremendous affect on the coolant temperature along with the ambient temperature, even on a very hot day I doubt if the fan(s) actually cut in if driving at speed as there is a good airflow to keep the coolant within limits.

I don't know what temperature the Scorpio fans are meant to com on but on MOST cars it is very high somewhere around the 90C and the fans cut out with 4/5 degrees. from my experience.

Title: Re: Temperature Gauge Problems
Post by a900one on Oct 27^th, 2009, 10:19pm

I would think it is much higher the fans come on as the thermostat only opens at about 90c and the engine runs at over 100c, hence the pressure cap to increase the temp the water will boil at.