Ford - Focus :: Engine Temp Goes All The Way To H / Coolant Light On When Using Heat
Jan 23, 2012
Recently the temp sensor on my car goes all the way to H and then the light comes on saying I need coolant. It only seems to happen when I have the heat and/or defrost on -- if I turn the heat off the temp goes back to normal within a minute or so. (no problem using rear defrost)
First time it happened I pulled over, checked coolant level and added a little. The next time it happened I looked under the hood the next morning and coolant level was just fine.
Happens more often when I'm driving around town than on highway. Usually within about 5 minutes of driving in the morning the engine temp is all the way to H.
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First background: G2 car has 215,000 mi and recently got P1121 scan code, so I replaced the coolant control valve. that's when high coolant temp and no cabin heat started.
on CCV top nipple connected to hose that had a dot on it and hose goes under inverter cover on right, next nipple down went to hose slightly to left of first hose, bottom hose goes to thermus can. initially ran car in diag mode with high heat, no heat in cabin.
so I got a Autel 519 scan code reader and I see now that the only code is a P0505 (idle air control malfunction)
taking car down my road for short test run, I turn off cabin heat completely and watched the ECT. after a while it climbs to around 220, then while engine is running quickly goes to 245F then 260F. At that point in time (around 245F) the high temp indicator lights up, temp stayed at 260ish so I return home. With car in park, cabin heat off - the temp returns back down to 220F. if I rev the engine temp again climbs.
I have gone through all suggestions, open radiator bleed valve, manually 'pumped' coolant hoses, turned on/off high heat in cabin and finally with car off removed and jumped the CHS multiple times for about 20secs.
Have purged the coolant system over period of days and coolant appears to be full as level is near top of radiator cap, no bubbling, no gurgling.
However 2 mentioned problems continue... I am starting to suspect coolant thermostat but it would seem strange that it would go at precisely the same time as coolant control valve.
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This past Saturday afternoon I'm out driving on the highway when the temperature gauge on dash maxes-out and the overheat warning light comes on. I get off at the next exit and stop at the nearest repair shop. (Which happened to be not too far from the exit.) During these moments of driving the car is not behaving as if it were overheating. No steam/vapor coming from the engine, it's performing okay, A/C runs cold, running heater on full-blast seems to do nothing to ease the gauge and the temperature in the engine bay feels about "normal."
So, since this is a Saturday at almost 5PM most of the repair shops are closing (it's a known fact cars don't break down past 5 o'clock on Saturdays.) So they say the'll look at it on Sunday.
I get a call on Sunday and I'm told that as near as they can tell the car is not overheating, the overheat light or check-engine lights weren't coming on and the car is behaving normally. The thermostat is "gunked up" and they recommend new coolant or a coolant flush." I just opt for new coolant, forgoing the flush, as I didn't really have the funds for it, an additional $100 or so. They say there are no codes in the system.
They do it and end up having to keep the car overnight so that the... air bubbles will work out of it? (?!)
I pick it up this past Monday evening and on the drive home the temp-gauge does as it was doing when this process began. It started creeping "hotter and hotter" meanwhile the car is behaving otherwise fine. (No overheat light this time.) Get home, open the hood, no vapor, no excess heat. Nothing.
They spend quite a bit of time running it, hooking it up to a diagnostic machine, etc. While the temp-gauge is sort of "floating around" between normal and "hot" it doesn't reach an "overheat" and the diagnostic machine registers normal temperatures. This time they find a code in the system, though the check-engine light has never come on. They recommend, again, the coolant flush so I go ahead and do it (they give me a discount), and drive the car home, again the temp-gauge "floats" around the dial, never quite getting to "overheating."
I drive to work just fine Thursday (today) morning with no real trouble with the gauge. (Though, FWIW, I had to tap on the dash to get the dash-light on that side of the console to come on.) This brings us to Thursday afternoon.
I make a couple of errands and as I'm stopped at a pharmacy drive-thru the temp-gauge is "floating." Driving home on the highway it reaches "overheating", turning the light on (again, car is not behaving in an overheating manner. A/C still cold, running heat doesn't ease gauge, no vapor from engine compartment.) When I pull in my parking spot the A/C and the car starts to "stall" some and NOW the check-engine light comes on. I shut the car off and I see vapors coming from under the hood.
I open the hood and the engine is covered in the anti-freeze/coolant and the coolant reservoir is empty. The various hoses and such that are clipped on to parts of the front engine cowling are loose (the plastic screw/"snaps" came out of their holes) and pushing on the upper-radiator some and it seems awfully loose. (Like the upper mounts aren't properly seated or something.)
Call the shop ask them what they are doing to me, they say they'll have another look at it and pay for the tow to get the car back to their shop. Awaiting word on what is going on, likely sometime tomorrow.
All of this strikes me as very, very odd and all seems to pile up quickly from taking it to this shop. With a replaced thermostat and flushed coolant I have a hard time understanding how the engine could genuinely overheat. All of the hoses and such seemed fine, and running the engine for a while at the shop the other day generated no problems to the techs working on the car. Yet, they're the only ones who have messed with it. Assumptions on their part Tuesday afternoon were something to do with the water pump (replaced at 100,000 miles with timing belt. Car is now at 145,000 miles.) Or a faulty temperature sensor (or what passes for it on the car) sending false readings to the gauge.
Car is a 2000 Ford Focus ZTS with a 4-Cyl, 16V, 2.0 Liter engine. It has 145,000 miles on it, timing belt and water-pump were replaced at 100,000 miles have had regular oil-changes on (more or less) every 5,000 miles or so. I will admit to not getting coolant changes/flushes as often as one should but the car never really had an overheating issues or problems starting in the winter.
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I drive a 2001 Ford Focus ZTS with ~133000. I just recently filled up my coolant reservoir with 50/50 coolant. 2 days later I needed to fill it again. I went through an entire jug of coolant in 4 days. It seems to be leaking from the top of the engine and the engine runs slightly rough and has a hard time starting some days (more often recently). How bad is it doc?
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Truck is a 1999 F-250 with manual climate control with A/C.
Heater core issue:
Heat is not very warm after engine is fully up to temp. Would like to back flush the heater core without damaging or making it leak. How should I do this safely?
Secondly, if I do make it leak, how hard is it to change out?
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I have a Grand Am SE 2001 and recently, since I got home from college for break, there has been no noticeable heat, and the engine temperature gauge is reading below 100. I checked the heat of the input and output hoses near the firewall and both were warm (warmer than the air blowing in the car) but not hot to the touch and this was after 10 minutes of driving 40 mph. Right now my only ideas are the thermostat or the heating core, what to look for? I'm not sure, short of replacing both, how to progress. Also wondering if driving it in this state is bad for the vehicle, I can't seem to find anything wrong with the engine and all other parts are working fine, not much chance to fix it for a few days.
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Ever since having the EGR delete done, the oil temp has been LOWER than the coolant temp. I am assuming this is bad info from the sending unit? They are reading with in a degree of each other at start up, but when at operating temp the gauge will read lower. Before the EGR delete I had a delta of about 4-7* oil hotter than coolant.
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Coolant temps getting much higher than oil temps under load. Is there any problem that could cause this other than a bad temperature sensor? Reading temps with an Edge CTS 2 monitor. Think I'm going to hook up a mechanical gauge in the morning and see what it shows.
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I drove my 99.5 7.3 F-350 1 mile to a friends and hooked it to the OBDII to get a code for my abs light.it had not been drove all day. we hooked into the pcm and he noticed the temp at 375* it was idling. is this right he didnt think it should have been that high???Will the engine coolant temp sensor, if it were bad,show a high temp of 375*? On the OBDII it showed a temp of 375* .....
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I have a 2008 Ford Focus. The heat in my car stays hot while I am driving but when I stop at a light or slow down the heat goes very cool.
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After two repair shops telling me there is nothing wrong with my car, I'm at a loss. My car is in great condition except when it decides not to start. On hot days, if I am doing several errands I need to worry about if my car will work after the first stop. After driving for a bit, when I turn off my car and return a short while later it will not start. The car will attempt to turn over and the battery works just fine, it just won't start. Also, another issue I think is related and connected to this is that on car trips lasting more than 15 minutes, the air conditioning will stop working. The air will blow but the cool 'conditioning' aspect will fail and I will be stuck with hot air blowing at me. The catch to this is that after waiting 2 hours for a tow, the driver was able to start my car on the first try, thus making the tow unnecessary. Obviously my car is not 'perfect' like the repair shops are telling me....
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I know the coolant filter housing has a port, but I would prefer the sensor be on the motor.
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The fellow decided to clear the code and then the car would not start. I waited for about 15 minutes and the car started with some hesitation and the light was out. When I got home I let the car sit for a few seconds and it started perfectly like nothing ever happened.
Does that mean that the temperature coolant sensor is bad??? I have a Hanes manual and apparently is not too difficult to do. Would I have to partially drain the radiator?
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2002 ford sport trac.I have been having an ongoing issue that started with the engine cranking but would not turn over until an hour passed. After replacing multiple parts (cam shaft sensor, crankshaft sensor, ignition pack) I am now down to poor fuel economy as the last of the issues (roughly 12 in the city and 15 highway). I was told the issue may be the engine coolant temperature sensor going bad so I decided to replace it. I found this was very difficult due to it being a plug and locking pin design and in a very tight spot in the engine.
I tried to purchase a replacement and the parts store kept trying to insist on selling me a part with threading. I finally found someone that figured out the issue and found the part for the 2001 sport trac had the same plug style with clip that did fit but was shaped a little different on the sensor end which I assume was due to being aftermarket. I noticed that there were two plugs side by side and the one easiest to access was on the left and I was told the one on the right was the sensor that gave the temperature reading to the gauge.
After installing the engine coolant temperature sensor I found the temperature gauge on the dash now will not respond and is sitting below the cold end of the gauge completely off. Is it possible this is because the part was for a 2001? Is the sensor on the left (passenger side) the engine coolant sensor?I would hate to put the old sensor back in just to test if that's the issue due how difficult it was to put that locking pin back on. What to check that could resolve the gauge issue before pulling this sensor back out?
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2004 Ford Focus, 2 Liter Zetec engine.0. Situation: Car initially running well but want to improve mileage, so I installed premium plugs.1. Ran roughly on test run, so headed home. Check Engine light came on before fully warmed up.2. Found and corrected loose plug wire.3. Engine now purrs like a kitten, but Check Engine light stays on.
What should I do now?
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fan does not run even when temp is at 210
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