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Car Forum / Driving, Maintenance, Tuning / Maintenance and Repair / March 20072001 Ford Focus Overheating issue
My Focus has 90K miles and has been maintained and operated well for 5+ years. Brought it to mechanic several weeks ago for tune-up, tires, and coolant change. It was my first coolant change, and the coolant was the yellow/orange stuff. Mechanic flushed and replaced coolant with green stuff. After about 30 minutes of driving, temp gauge moved 3/4 mark--first time it ever moved past middle. Mechanic said it just needed to be burped. Picked it up, same problem not resolved. Return to mechanic, and he said water pump impeller had split apart (and showed me it broken). While at it, he changed thermostat. Once again, i drive car, and the little movement on the temp gauge starts after 30 minutes or so. I called him back and said I am still not resolved. He said he will look into temp gauge issues, and that he ruled out head gasket, and fans came on at proper temp. Now I'm $1500 down the drain and have a problem eerily cooincident with having fluid changed. I trust my mechanic. But obviously I'm interested in not running up another $1000. The temp gauge generally moves to 3/4 or 2/3 over at 50-60mph. Above 60, it starts nearing 8/10 over. It also occurs at idle after coming off a highway. I notice what seems to be the air condition fan on-=something i never noticed outside of summer. When it clicked off at a light, the temp swung down, which i thought was strange. It also will cool down to middle range with normal driving, but then head up again. My issues: water pump looked busted, but obviously wasn't affecting system beforehand--or did a coolant flush bust a fan (I dont think so). I notice the fan on when it shouldn't be on--or hasn't been on before, except during summer with air conditioner on. Is that an issue? Car is hot with the higher speeds above 60, but best right after taking off from idle up to 40, where it tends to not get hotter than 2/3 mark before returning to middle. Any help or direction would be most appreciated > My Focus has 90K miles and has been maintained and operated well for > 5+ years. Brought it to mechanic several weeks ago for tune-up, tires, [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > tends to not get hotter than 2/3 mark before returning to middle. Any > help or direction would be most appreciated sounds to me like a marginal radiator; am curious why you switched from the new style coolant to the old stuff? if not properly flushed can cause some goo (that's the technical term) to form in the cooling system which can interfere with heat transfer. But anyway I guess you will probably find a partially plugged radiator and at this point you will have to replace it. whichever coolant you choose to continue with I would flush well before adding any. Also do you have any body damage to the front air dam, etc. that would have changed the airflow through the radiator? good luck nate thanks nate.. pretty much through research and advice from folks like yourself that's what i've been thinking. The MOMENT the car started getting hot, i called the mechanic and questioned WHY he put in the different coolant and he told me "it's just a color and doesnt matter." Well, in the case you just brought up, it does matter, and that's what I've begun to suspect. I'll post when i get a response. >thanks nate.. pretty much through research and advice from folks like >yourself that's what i've been thinking. The MOMENT the car started >getting hot, i called the mechanic and questioned WHY he put in the >different coolant and he told me "it's just a color and doesnt >matter." Well, in the case you just brought up, it does matter, and >that's what I've begun to suspect. I'll post when i get a response. It does matter, but there are some good reasons to go back to the generic green stuff. I have known many folks with the GM Dexcool have all sorts of odd sludging problems which were cured by competely cleaning the system out and going back to the green stuff. I don't think there's any _problem_ necessarily with running the green stuff in the Ford, but if you do that you need to make sure the system is completely purged or it will form slime. And I would make absolutely sure there aren't any metal compatibility issues first.` --scott  Signature"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." >> and coolant change. It was my first coolant change, and the coolant >> was the yellow/orange stuff. Mechanic flushed and replaced coolant >> with green stuff. > sounds to me like a marginal radiator; am curious why you switched > from the new style coolant to the old stuff? if not properly flushed [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > will have to replace it. whichever coolant you choose to continue > with I would flush well before adding any. There is a new(er) 'green' coolant that is universally compatible between old green and orange at least it says so on the label. It was the only 'green' prestone I could buy last time I bought coolant. Assuming his mechanic isn't a total moron, that's probably what was used. > In article <1173216011.327799.112...@q40g2000cwq.googlegroups.com>, N8N wrote: > >> and coolant change. It was my first coolant change, and the coolant [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > > Assuming his mechanic isn't a total moron, that's probably what was used. I hope so, but I've been buying the old, green stuff still, so at least in my area it is still available. I figured it was worth mentioning the possibility. I haven't a clue what yellow/orange coolant Ford was using in '01, either, but I assume it is some sort of OAT-based coolant. nate >Mechanic said it just needed to be burped. It's possible your mechanic didn't get all the air out of the cooling system when he "burped" it. My 2.5 Dakota acts the same way if I don't get all the air out. Good Luck > but then head up again. My issues: water pump looked busted, but > obviously wasn't affecting system beforehand--or did a coolant flush > bust a fan (I dont think so). I notice the fan on when it shouldn't be AFAICR there is a known issue with the water pump up to and including 2002 model year where the impeller is GUARANTEED to break if engine rpms go over [some value]. Maybe your friendly mechanic over-revved the engine after doing the coolant flush, and broke the pump. I'm learning a lot more on these groups than I would otherwise, and being I'm increasingly aggravated with lack of progress with my car maybe it's productive to be armed when I speak with mechanic for 8th time in 2 weeks. I deal with Focus tomorrow, since the past 2 weeks my car's been in the shop a total of 7 days, and I was just laid off, and I haven't conjured up how much more I can pay. (The mechanic sold me a bottle of moonshine for $20, and sensing it's overpriced, perhaps I should've known what I was getting in to.) Long Island + jobless + no car=big time trouble! Thanks guys, I'll post worthwhile (or not) results from mechanic. > I haven't conjured up how much more I can pay. (The mechanic sold me a > bottle of moonshine for $20, and sensing it's overpriced, perhaps I > should've known what I was getting in to.) Long Island + jobless + no > car=big time trouble! Thanks guys, I'll post worthwhile Who makes moonshine on LI? I work on the island (Syosset), I'd like to get one of those big stoneware bottles with "XXXX" on the side ;) >> but then head up again. My issues: water pump looked busted, but >> obviously wasn't affecting system beforehand--or did a coolant flush [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > rpms go over [some value]. Maybe your friendly mechanic over-revved > the engine after doing the coolant flush, and broke the pump. This seems highly unlikely. I did a Google search and could find no reference to impeller problems. My 2000 Zetec-engined Focus regularly sees high revs, and has not had a water pump problem. There is a rev limiter so you cannot arbitrarily overrev. BTW, my temp guage never goes past center. In any event, you would need to know which engine. There were two different engines in early production in NA, and at least three in Europe. Assuming the mechanic is competent and didn't make a mistake, an air bubble seems like the most likely cause. Dan > My Focus has 90K miles and has been maintained and operated well for > 5+ years. Brought it to mechanic several weeks ago for tune-up, tires, [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] > tends to not get hotter than 2/3 mark before returning to middle. Any > help or direction would be most appreciated I don't know how your mechanic flushed the system but I would ask if he pressure flushed it or put in a flush chemical. It sounds to me like a bunch of sediment that was lying quietly in the body cavities of the block has been disturbed and has now migrated to the radiator and plugged it up. 5 years is a long time on the factory fill. Particularly if you have periodically added water over the years. The corrosion inhibitors are about gone after 3 years. If you are handy with tools you might be able to take a garden hose and a lot of time and blast water out of the hose through the block through as many coolant orifices as you can, (you will have to disconnect hoses to do this) as well as forwards and backwards through the radiator. A shop cannot do this due to EPA regulations about coolant recovery, this is one area where a home coolant flush is superior. Us DIYers can drain most of the coolant then dump 50 gallons of water from the hose through the system until it runs clean. These stories are why I never use chemical flush in coolant. Years ago I chemical flushed a Ford 302 (I still have the car) and ended up replacing the head gasket (mainly because the gasket was really, really old) and when I pulled out the old gasket I noticed a lot of the coolant metering holes were plugged. Ted "bkviking" <bkviking@gmail.com> wrote in news:1173213017.183142.293050 @q40g2000cwq.googlegroups.com: > The temp gauge generally moves to 3/4 or 2/3 over at > 50-60mph. Above 60, it starts nearing 8/10 over. It also occurs at > idle after coming off a highway. Anybody checked the thermostat? Just because it's new doesn't mean it's any good. When the unit is overheating, use an IR thermometer to check temperatures on either side of the thermostat. If they're drastcially different, the stat's not opening properly. SignatureTegger Alright, just off the phone with the mechanic. He says that he had to borrow a tool from Ford to purge the car of air pocket. He then said that it was fine, but the air pocket would come back, that a vaccuum would form because air was getting in the car through the cylinder head housing. So he replaced that and the lower radiator hose because it was soft. I will test it tomorrow to see if this finally repairs the problem. Still, it's odd that I have the problem immediately after taking the car to him..I just don't understand how water pump, cylinder housing and radiator hose became problems all of a sudden. I will post tomorrow when i can confirm or deny success. > Alright, just off the phone with the mechanic. He says that he had to > borrow a tool from Ford to purge the car of air pocket. He then said > that it was fine, but the air pocket would come back, that a vaccuum > would form because air was getting in the car through the cylinder > head housing. This makes ZERO sense. If it could suck air in coolant would get out. > So he replaced that and the lower radiator hose because > it was soft. I will test it tomorrow to see if this finally repairs > the problem. Still, it's odd that I have the problem immediately after > taking the car to him..I just don't understand how water pump, > cylinder housing and radiator hose became problems all of a sudden. I > will post tomorrow when i can confirm or deny success. The radiator hose because it was checked previously. The pump may have been essentially toast before the flush, held together with corrosion. When flushed, the corrosion was was washed away and there wasn't anything holding the impeller together. |
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