Hi, I wonder if I could draw on your collective knowledge.....?
With the onset of cooler weather, I have noticed that on my 5am drive to work, the temp gauge barely gets into the "normal" zone. This is on an 18 mile route that is predominantly downhill on 40mph roads. However, a fair amount of heat is available for the cabin.
On the way home (warmer air temp, mostly uphill) the temp gauge appears normal but if I put the heater on full I can make the needle drop back out of the zone.
Is it normal for the cabin heater to make this much difference to the engine coolant temp?
(I've heard of mini drivers using the heater matrix as an extra radiator in summer traffic jams to stop the engine overheating - but I would have thought my mondeo would have more in reserve than this!)
I'm aware from reading another site that Mondeos have a couple of weak spots in the cooling system, so is there anything I can check before speaking to a garage? (i'm technically minded but not practically handed, so my preferred way of dealing with these things is to try to have an idea of diagnosis, then get an expert to fix!)
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hi there i have owned many fords and i have had temp readingings like you have discribed on all of them and havnt had any probs apart from the escort diesel (96) i have now .
it will start up and run perfect but temp doesnt really move above the 1st white line until i stop then it starts to rise i have just replaced the thermostat which was stuck half open letting a constant flow of coolant through instead of a regulated flow . this may or may not be the case for you but its somewhere to start . so i wish you luck and an easy cheap solution to your problem . all the best . neil . hull .
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I have a 2002 mondeo and it does the same thing and has been doing so for the last 3 years with no problems. I found that the temperature can drop as low as a quarter on the guage simply through a prolonged period of downhill driving, obviously made more notieable in cold weather as cooling is increased.
I don't know if this is common on diesels, but the girlfriends petrol focus doesn't do the same thing. i.e. despite prolonged downhill the guage does not shift from the centre i.e. normal.
Basically i dont feel as though there is anything wrong with the system, but would be interested to know other peoples opinions.
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I'd say this was a typical case of a thermostat sticking open. Once an engine is warmed up the gauge usually does not budge from the middle position.
No specific information how to change the thermostat, which I believe can be in some odd places.
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My car is a 98 Mondeo 1.8, so i'm hoping it might at least be a similar engine as fitted to the OP.
I have the symptoms (and have had all through my 2+ years of ownership) where the needle only just rises past the C mark except in warmer weather when it nudges up a little further, and of course when stationary with engine running it will get up nearer to the middle. All the time I have had effective heating and the cooling fan will cut in if left to idle. Are there different thermostats available (opening temperatures) and could mine be fitted with the wrong one? What effect would running slightly cooler all the time actually have, if any?
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Yep Stat stuck open. You will be paying for that in increased fuel consumption. Regards Perter
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At one time I had a Ford Orion which had the same peculiarities as your Mondeo. Out of interest I made up a thermo-couple and fixed it in the cooling system and was surprised to see how few degrees it was between when the guage started registering and when it was in the red zone. I can't remember the actual figures but since then I have not worried about it.
I now have a 98 1600 Escort which does the same thing so I think it must be a design feature.
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I now have a 98 1600 Escort which does the same thing so I think it must be a design feature.
I am beginning to wonder if this is indeed the case with my gauge especially as the car is nearing 12 years old and 163k miles, as the normal range of movement for my gauge (C---H rather than N-O-R-M) is just at C in regular use, rising just above C for hard & fast use.
Can anyone tell me the way to force the cooling fans to activate (on another car I had, it was simply a case of removing a connector and bridging between 2 pins) as I want to prove to myself that they are still functioning at this time of year, should it be necessary. After a decent drive, I have just sat with the car idling for 15 minutes with intermittent bursts of revving it up to 3000rpm, and the best i've got is a reading of just above 1/4 but I haven't been able to force the fans on yet.
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Hello all. Firstly thanks for your help and apologies for my late reply. Have secured myself the use of my father in laws nice warm garage next weekend, so will shut myself away with Haynes and a new thermostat and see if I can improve matters.
Thanks again for the help - I'll report back!
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