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Eratic Temp Gauge Readings Ford Focus
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PAUL130861
Feb 25, 2016, 7:55:02 AM2/25/16
to
Ford Focus 1.6 Ghia Mk 1 Petrol 2004 Plate 80000 Miles
Just Serviced The Ford Focus
I Completely Replaced The Coolant Flushed Out Radiator Etc And Refilled
System With 50% Antifreeze Water Mix.
I Refilled System By Removing Top Radiator Hose At Radiator Holding Hose
Up Above Level Of Engine And Back Filling System Through The Hose Until
Coolant Started Coming Out Of Top Of Radiator. Reconected Radiator Hose
And Finished Topping Up By Filling Expansion Resevior Up To The Max
Level.
Now On Longer Journeys The Temperature Gauge Will Level Out At Normal
And After A While It Will Very Quickly Rise To The Hot Zone Hold There
For A Short While Then Very Quickly Drop To Normal. Occasionally But Not
Every Time When It Hits The Red Zone The Multifunction Overheat Warning
Light On The Dash Will Also Illuminate For A Short Time.
It Happened 6 Or 7 Times On A 100 Mile Journey Yesterday. Its Been
Driven On A 50 Mile Journey Today And Only Happened A Couple Of Times.
The Failsafe Overheat System Which Cuts Out 2 Cylinders If The Car
Seriously Overheats Is Never Activated And If I Stop The Car And Look
Under Bonnet The Engine Never Smells Or Appears To Be "hot". The System
Never Seems To Be Over Pressurised And It Is Not Loosing Any Coolant. It
Is Still On The Max Mark On The Reseviour. Any Ideas Folks ??????? Its
My Daughters Car And She Works Away From Home And She Is Worried It Will
Breakdown On Her.
--
PAUL130861
Chris Whelan
Feb 25, 2016, 8:18:57 AM2/25/16
to
the heater supply hose at the rear of the engine (below the coil), then use
a funnel to fill the cooling system via that hose until it comes out of the
engine.
If you don't follow that procedure, air locks are likely, as you have
discovered.
Sometimes it will rectify itself quickly, in which case the coolant level
will suddenly drop so the header tank is empty; topping it up will restore
correct function. If it doesn't do that within the first few minutes of
refilling, you should not continue to drive the vehicle.
In your case, I would suggest you need to buy some more anti-freeze, drain
it, then refill it in the correct way.
Chris
--
Remove prejudice to reply.
MrCheerful
Feb 25, 2016, 8:29:11 AM2/25/16
to
reached full temperature, having the cap loose will allow any air locks
to more easily come up and into the tank, you will easily spot when this
happens.
PAUL130861
Feb 27, 2016, 7:55:02 AM2/27/16
to
MrCheerful;512140 Wrote:
> On 25/02/2016 13:18, Chris Whelan wrote:-
> PAUL130861 wrote:
> -
>
> The correct way to refill the coolant on the 1.4 & 1.6 engines is to
> remove
> the heater supply hose at the rear of the engine (below the coil), then
> use
> a funnel to fill the cooling system via that hose until it comes out of
> the
> engine.
>
> If you don't follow that procedure, air locks are likely, as you have
> discovered.
>
> Sometimes it will rectify itself quickly, in which case the coolant
> level
> will suddenly drop so the header tank is empty; topping it up will
> restore
> correct function. If it doesn't do that within the first few minutes
> of
> refilling, you should not continue to drive the vehicle.
>
> In your case, I would suggest you need to buy some more anti-freeze,
> drain
> it, then refill it in the correct way.
>
> Chris
> -
> The correct way to refill the coolant on the 1.4 & 1.6 engines is to
> remove
> the heater supply hose at the rear of the engine (below the coil), then
> use
> a funnel to fill the cooling system via that hose until it comes out of
> the
> engine.
>
> If you don't follow that procedure, air locks are likely, as you have
> discovered.
>
> Sometimes it will rectify itself quickly, in which case the coolant
> level
> will suddenly drop so the header tank is empty; topping it up will
> restore
> correct function. If it doesn't do that within the first few minutes
> of
> refilling, you should not continue to drive the vehicle.
>
> In your case, I would suggest you need to buy some more anti-freeze,
> drain
> it, then refill it in the correct way.
>
> Chris
>
> or leave it running with the filler cap off or very loose until it has
> reached full temperature, having the cap loose will allow any air locks
>
> to more easily come up and into the tank, you will easily spot when this
>
> happens.
Hi Chris
> or leave it running with the filler cap off or very loose until it has
> reached full temperature, having the cap loose will allow any air locks
>
> to more easily come up and into the tank, you will easily spot when this
>
> happens.
I drained system again and filled as per your recomendations and the
care has made 2 x 50 mile journeys so far without a problem. So thanks
for the advice.
I did look on you tube and found several posts on how to do it and all
of them were just re filling the system via the expansion resevior!!!!!
That certainly would not have worked on mine!
--
PAUL130861
Chris Whelan
Feb 27, 2016, 7:58:23 AM2/27/16
to
PAUL130861 wrote:
[...]
> Hi Chris
> I drained system again and filled as per your recomendations and the
> care has made 2 x 50 mile journeys so far without a problem. So thanks
> for the advice.
> I did look on you tube and found several posts on how to do it and all
> of them were just re filling the system via the expansion resevior!!!!!
> That certainly would not have worked on mine!
Thanks for letting the group know.
Glad you got it sorted.
[...]
> Hi Chris
> I drained system again and filled as per your recomendations and the
> care has made 2 x 50 mile journeys so far without a problem. So thanks
> for the advice.
> I did look on you tube and found several posts on how to do it and all
> of them were just re filling the system via the expansion resevior!!!!!
> That certainly would not have worked on mine!
Glad you got it sorted.
PAUL130861
Mar 2, 2016, 7:55:02 AM3/2/16
to
Chris Whelan;512160 Wrote:
> PAUL130861 wrote:
>
> [...]
> -
> Hi Chris
> I drained system again and filled as per your recomendations and the
> care has made 2 x 50 mile journeys so far without a problem. So thanks
> for the advice.
> I did look on you tube and found several posts on how to do it and all
> of them were just re filling the system via the expansion
> resevior!!!!!
> That certainly would not have worked on mine!-
> I drained system again and filled as per your recomendations and the
> care has made 2 x 50 mile journeys so far without a problem. So thanks
> for the advice.
> I did look on you tube and found several posts on how to do it and all
> of them were just re filling the system via the expansion
> resevior!!!!!
>
> Thanks for letting the group know.
>
> Glad you got it sorted.
>
>
>
> Thanks for letting the group know.
>
> Glad you got it sorted.
>
>
>
> --
> Remove prejudice to reply.
Hi Chris
> Remove prejudice to reply.
Unfortunately when the car was taken on a longer journey of approx
100miles the temp gauge twice went into the hot zone for a short period
and then drops back to normal. The overheat warning light on the dash
board did not illuminate.
To be honest I was not convinced it was an air lock in the first place
but you have to work your way through solutions in a logical manner.
I think I am left with it being either a faulty cylinder head temp
sensor, a faulty radiator fan temp sensor of is it possible that there
could be a very small gas leak through the head gasket. I notice the
expansion tank cap has a spring loaded safety valve so I am guessing it
would prevent any obvious ove rpressuring of the system by a gas leak
through the head gasket.
--
PAUL130861
MrCheerful
Mar 2, 2016, 8:07:37 AM3/2/16
to
block test kit) to establish whether you have a head gasket leak.
Ian Jackson
Mar 2, 2016, 9:14:33 AM3/2/16
to
In message <sABBy.1700883$TN6.2...@fx34.am4>, MrCheerful
<g.odon...@yahoo.co.uk> writes
>>
>> Hi Chris
>> Unfortunately when the car was taken on a longer journey of approx
>> 100miles the temp gauge twice went into the hot zone for a short period
>> and then drops back to normal. The overheat warning light on the dash
>> board did not illuminate.
>> To be honest I was not convinced it was an air lock in the first place
>> but you have to work your way through solutions in a logical manner.
>> I think I am left with it being either a faulty cylinder head temp
>> sensor, a faulty radiator fan temp sensor of is it possible that there
>> could be a very small gas leak through the head gasket. I notice the
>> expansion tank cap has a spring loaded safety valve so I am guessing it
>> would prevent any obvious ove rpressuring of the system by a gas leak
>> through the head gasket.
>
>get a sniff test done by a garage or buy a kit yourself (it is called a
>block test kit) to establish whether you have a head gasket leak.
Is it certain that there actually IS any overheating? Some of the Mk1
Focuses had a problem with corrosion of the speedometer cluster printed
circuit board.
With my 04 reg (at 9 years old, 45k miles), after being intermittent a
couple of times, most of the cluster functions totally packed up (IIRC,
no temperature gauge, no speedo, no rev counter and no odometer). As a
Ford replacement would have been at least £450, I did a bit of Googling
for advice, and found that corrosion could be the problem. Fortunately,
I managed an easy fix (although I have had my fingers crossed for the
past three years).
--
Ian
<g.odon...@yahoo.co.uk> writes
>>
>> Hi Chris
>> Unfortunately when the car was taken on a longer journey of approx
>> 100miles the temp gauge twice went into the hot zone for a short period
>> and then drops back to normal. The overheat warning light on the dash
>> board did not illuminate.
>> To be honest I was not convinced it was an air lock in the first place
>> but you have to work your way through solutions in a logical manner.
>> I think I am left with it being either a faulty cylinder head temp
>> sensor, a faulty radiator fan temp sensor of is it possible that there
>> could be a very small gas leak through the head gasket. I notice the
>> expansion tank cap has a spring loaded safety valve so I am guessing it
>> would prevent any obvious ove rpressuring of the system by a gas leak
>> through the head gasket.
>
>get a sniff test done by a garage or buy a kit yourself (it is called a
>block test kit) to establish whether you have a head gasket leak.
Focuses had a problem with corrosion of the speedometer cluster printed
circuit board.
With my 04 reg (at 9 years old, 45k miles), after being intermittent a
couple of times, most of the cluster functions totally packed up (IIRC,
no temperature gauge, no speedo, no rev counter and no odometer). As a
Ford replacement would have been at least £450, I did a bit of Googling
for advice, and found that corrosion could be the problem. Fortunately,
I managed an easy fix (although I have had my fingers crossed for the
past three years).
--
Ian
Chris Whelan
Mar 2, 2016, 9:22:06 AM3/2/16
to
PAUL130861 wrote:
[...]
> Hi Chris
> Unfortunately when the car was taken on a longer journey of approx
> 100miles the temp gauge twice went into the hot zone for a short period
> and then drops back to normal. The overheat warning light on the dash
> board did not illuminate.
> To be honest I was not convinced it was an air lock in the first place
> but you have to work your way through solutions in a logical manner.
> I think I am left with it being either a faulty cylinder head temp
> sensor, a faulty radiator fan temp sensor of is it possible that there
> could be a very small gas leak through the head gasket. I notice the
> expansion tank cap has a spring loaded safety valve so I am guessing it
> would prevent any obvious ove rpressuring of the system by a gas leak
> through the head gasket.
From your OP, it would seem that the temperature was behaving normally until
the coolant was changed. It then completed a number of lengthy trips during
which it over-heated several times, sometimes lighting the MIL. After re-
filling correctly, it now goes into the red on longer journeys, but without
the MIL illuminating.
If the above is an accurate summary of events, I would suspect that the
original problem was indeed an airlock, and the over-heating caused by
continuing to drive it under those circumstances has blown the head gasket.
Chris
[...]
> Hi Chris
> Unfortunately when the car was taken on a longer journey of approx
> 100miles the temp gauge twice went into the hot zone for a short period
> and then drops back to normal. The overheat warning light on the dash
> board did not illuminate.
> To be honest I was not convinced it was an air lock in the first place
> but you have to work your way through solutions in a logical manner.
> I think I am left with it being either a faulty cylinder head temp
> sensor, a faulty radiator fan temp sensor of is it possible that there
> could be a very small gas leak through the head gasket. I notice the
> expansion tank cap has a spring loaded safety valve so I am guessing it
> would prevent any obvious ove rpressuring of the system by a gas leak
> through the head gasket.
the coolant was changed. It then completed a number of lengthy trips during
which it over-heated several times, sometimes lighting the MIL. After re-
filling correctly, it now goes into the red on longer journeys, but without
the MIL illuminating.
If the above is an accurate summary of events, I would suspect that the
original problem was indeed an airlock, and the over-heating caused by
continuing to drive it under those circumstances has blown the head gasket.
Chris
Chris Whelan
Mar 2, 2016, 9:25:22 AM3/2/16
to
Ian Jackson wrote:
[...]
> Is it certain that there actually IS any overheating? Some of the Mk1
> Focuses had a problem with corrosion of the speedometer cluster printed
> circuit board.
It would be unlikely that a faulty cluster would *only* show high temps,
with occasional MIL illumination, and a very unlikely coincidence if that
happened immediately after a coolant change carried out in a non-standard
way.
Chris
[...]
> Is it certain that there actually IS any overheating? Some of the Mk1
> Focuses had a problem with corrosion of the speedometer cluster printed
> circuit board.
with occasional MIL illumination, and a very unlikely coincidence if that
happened immediately after a coolant change carried out in a non-standard
way.
Chris
MrCheerful
Mar 2, 2016, 9:47:22 AM3/2/16
to
gesture for about a hundred quid.
alan_m
Mar 3, 2016, 5:29:46 PM3/3/16
to
On 02/03/2016 10:53, PAUL130861 wrote:
> To be honest I was not convinced it was an air lock in the first place
> but you have to work your way through solutions in a logical manner.
> I think I am left with it being either a faulty cylinder head temp
> sensor,
I remember that there could be a problem on a focus with the cylinder
> but you have to work your way through solutions in a logical manner.
> I think I am left with it being either a faulty cylinder head temp
> sensor,
head temperature sensor wiring 'picking up' from the spark plug leads.
The sensor is mounted between the centre two spark plugs and its wiring
can touch the spark plug leads. The fix was to use plastic tie wraps to
hold the temperature sensor wiring away from the spark plug wiring.
--
mailto: news {at} admac {dot] myzen {dot} co {dot} uk
Ian Jackson
Mar 4, 2016, 3:31:08 AM3/4/16
to
In message <X1DBy.1401353$QP2.1...@fx42.am4>, MrCheerful
<g.odon...@yahoo.co.uk> writes
Interesting!
With mine, it was obvious that some of the soldered joints on the rear
(exposed) side of printed circuit board were corroded. There were
probably others on the other (front) side, which you can't see.
To get to the front side would have meant pulling the pointers off the
dials, so I decided first to try just cleaning the rear side with a
toothbrush, and then giving it a light misting with WD40 (taking care to
prevent any spray reaching the front where the dials were). To my
relief, this seemed to be sufficient, and so far 'the fix' has lasted
three years.
Anyway, I gather that this isn't OP's problem!
--
Ian
<g.odon...@yahoo.co.uk> writes
With mine, it was obvious that some of the soldered joints on the rear
(exposed) side of printed circuit board were corroded. There were
probably others on the other (front) side, which you can't see.
To get to the front side would have meant pulling the pointers off the
dials, so I decided first to try just cleaning the rear side with a
toothbrush, and then giving it a light misting with WD40 (taking care to
prevent any spray reaching the front where the dials were). To my
relief, this seemed to be sufficient, and so far 'the fix' has lasted
three years.
Anyway, I gather that this isn't OP's problem!
--
Ian
Peter Hill
Mar 4, 2016, 1:26:15 PM3/4/16
to
cure a dry joint.
More likely just a build up of oxide at the loom connector plug that was
displaced by unplugging and plugging back in.
Ian Jackson
Mar 4, 2016, 3:02:15 PM3/4/16
to
In message <nbcjvv$7sa$1...@gioia.aioe.org>, Peter Hill
<peter...@skyshacknospam.demon.co.uk> writes
Maybe - but on the other hand, it could have been the corrosion bridging
the printed circuit tracks (of which there were certainly signs). If the
connector was a common problem, why would Fords have been selling the
complete cluster as a 'good will' gesture for about a hundred quid?
--
Ian
<peter...@skyshacknospam.demon.co.uk> writes
the printed circuit tracks (of which there were certainly signs). If the
connector was a common problem, why would Fords have been selling the
complete cluster as a 'good will' gesture for about a hundred quid?
--
Ian
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