Overheating! Yaaaaaay!

jembo

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It seems I can't go more than a month without this car needing a trip to the mechanic for something serious, and the latest problem is overheating. Yesterday it started to overheat and luckily I just happened to be right by my mechanic's house, so we popped the hood and the simplest thing we could think of was maybe a bad relay, so we switched some around since we didn't have the relay map (not knowing it is a hydraulic fan and not an electric one) and let the car sit 10 mins with the a/c on full blast and all seemed fine. So I drove it home, about 15 mins of highway, 15 mins of heavy traffic at a crawl, and 15 mins of steady 30-40mph driving with a few stop signs and red lights here and there. Temp never went above halfway. So now that we found out its a hydraulic fan, we realize that switching the relays probably didn't do crap and it was a stroke of luck that there were no problems on the way home. Now I fully expect it to overheat again soon.

So, with it overheating one trip and being fine the next, what may be the problem?

I'm hoping just a bubble that can be fixed by draining the system or a thermostat, but with my luck the fan or pump will be the problem and yet another $600 going into this thing
 
You might also have a sticky Thermostat. These will cause intermittant heating which gets more frequent over time.

Usually a defective thermostat will look visibly broken, like the valve being loose or out of place. Or, you could stick it in a pot of water and see it it opens before it starts to boil.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson
 
This car goes into a mode to prevent a complete overheat if it gets a little hot. My car gauge went to not even 3/4 and the gauge then pegs H and the car goes into a power reduced mode. Car is not really overheating yet at that point. I pulled over when mine did it, turned it off for about a minute restarted and it was fine. Later that day just found my radiator jambed with crap. Cleaned it and no problem since.
 
sounds like a bubble honestly, i had the same problem and so have a dozen others this month, might as well replace the thermostat its a $15 part at worst and a 20 minute fix, then bleed it following the directions to a T, i did it once then a week or two later i had the heat rising problem again, then i re-bled it and haven't had any problems since. start simple, then go big.
 
sounds so much like an air bubble. The system needs to be bled. When bleeding, follow the procedure to the t..and have the car on level ground. And make SURE when it says to "fill the cooling tower"..to fill it to the BRIM. TOTALLY full.
 
And the thermostat is actually probably fine. Try the free fix (bleeding) first.
 
Well here's an update. I haven't had any more problems until yesterday, but that's because I never really drive more than 15 minutes at a time. Yesterday I took a half hour trip and after about 20 minutes, the gauge started to creep up and the 'check engine temp' message came on about 5 minutes later at the 3/4 mark. So I tested it out again today and got the same results. So it seems that if I drive more than 20 minutes without letting the engine cool down completely, the temp starts to rise. With this new info, can anyone give a more accurate guess at what the problem is before I tackle the issue? Still hoping for a bubble or broken thermostat. Thanks guys
 
Since you haven't even tried the free fix of bleeding the system that would be the start point, waiting for it to go away isn't working for you. You have to put some effort into your problem and eliminate the over whelming suggestions.
 
My car started to do the same thing. I have a 05 LS Sport with about 66k on the clock. I was getting annoyed cause at first It would be really intermitant. I first though I needed to top off the system.

Anyway. Long story short it would run really hot on the freeway as well as low speed so its not the fan. I determined it was the T-stat when I turned on the heater the temps would drop like a rock.

Total parts $56.xx and about an hour of your time. Make sure you get the Motorcraft Gold while your at ford. Couldn't find it anywhere.
 
+1. You MUST bleed the system. A bubble in the system can produce wildly random overheat situations. May not do it for 4-6 weeks. Then it may do it twice in 3 days. Then disappear for weeks. Then back again. So BLEED it exactly per the process.
 

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