Ford Focus 2.0 TDCI 2006 - Temperature

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Tue 15 Mar 2011 09:12
Ford Focus 2.0 TDCI 2006 - Temperature - Whisky

Hello all, I have noticed an odd fault with the temperature. The gauge is no longer climbing, well it does move a little off bottom but only by a fraction about 8 miles into my journey to work. Normally its up at middle after about 3 miles.

I noticed this last night on my way home, I did a DIY oil change on Saturday but cant be sure if this problem is related or has been happening for a few weeks. The temp gauge isnt something I normally look at.

When I got home I started the car in test mode and the engine temperature was showing as 107c so the engine was definatly hot. This morning I used test mode again and the temp was a steady 95ish into work. Does the engine management get temperature from a different place to the gauge and do you think it will affect the cooling? 107 in March seems hot to me. Thanks.

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Tue 15 Mar 2011 09:59
Ford Focus 2.0 TDCI 2006 - Temperature - Peter.N.

It would seem so from your results. 107C is quite possible if you have just stopped the car as there is latent heat in the engine and while the cooling system is not working the temperature will rise. I would suspect there is a seperate sensor for the gauge but don't know the engine so can't tell you where.

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Tue 15 Mar 2011 11:31
Ford Focus 2.0 TDCI 2006 - Temperature - Whisky

Thanks Peter, having thought a little more about it I wonder if the Engine management is displaying oil temperature. It has occured to me as well that thermostats now stick open when they fail. I will see how hot the radiator is after tonights run home.

This sounds somewhat plausable so looks like I'm gonna replace the thermostat this weekend and see what happens. Ignore the test mode readings and treating the obvious syptoms is probably my best bet.

Edited by Whisky on 15/03/2011 at 11:33

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Tue 15 Mar 2011 13:44
Ford Focus 2.0 TDCI 2006 - Temperature - dieselnut

If its the same setup at a Mondeo there are 2 thermostats on the engine.

One for the main engine cooling & one for the oil cooler.

If either fail open the engine gets over cooled.

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Mon 21 Mar 2011 09:12
Ford Focus 2.0 TDCI 2006 - Temperature - Whisky

For reference the car is now fixed, the thermostat was indeed the problem. I can only assume the electronic readout was from a cylinder head thermometer that the car isn't alledged to have.

The thermostat is inside the thermostat housing meaning the whole thing needs to be replaced at a cost of £62 for the housing. On inspection of the old unit a rubber seal had come loose and jammed the thermostat open.

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