Cleaned that sensor yet again! Grrrr!

[Ian Lanc]

I bet many of you who own the MK7 Fiesta will know of the irritating buzzing noise coming from the lower left-side of the steering wheel after the engine is turned off 

Had my Fiesta from brand new and came across that flamin noise after just six months, took the car back to ford and they said it's normal, normal my backside and told them to sort it, which they did, but the noise came back after a year and decided to ask what the buzzing noise was and that it was a temp' sensor which has a little fan on the end of it and it pulls the air in from the inside and eventually stops spinning after it has equalized the air temp.... what ever that means!! The little fan blades get filthed up in dust and eventually causes an imbalance ad start to vibrate... this is the buzzing you hear!

I'm sick to death of having to remove the surround and unscrew the temp' dials, remove the sensor and clean and put back together every six months.

Today I removed the gear lever surround and snapped two locating lugs and really have anger issues today   

Has anyone ever just left this thing off ? Or is it really needed ?

[frund]

I have the noise so you are not on your own. Mine is 64 still under warranty. Hmm I feel a trip to the dealership coming on. Where exactly is this sensor.

[Jazman23]

You'd think with it being a common thing they'd adapt the sensor and put a filter over it to stop dust getting in... Is this just with the Climate Control Models or do I have this to look forward to with the manual heating?

[Ian Lanc]

The sensor is fitted to climate control models only, to be honest I'm sick of it.

If you've got air con' then look at the heating controls and to the right of them as the lower section of the dash curves away near to the left of the steering wheel, you'll see a few slots in a rectangle, the sensor is behind that. To get at it you've got to remove the plastic gear lever surround - remove the fake ash tray - unscrew four torx screws which holds the electric controls, pull it out but don't disconnect its electrics, just leave it to one side. Then with your left hand put your hand through the hole and feel about for the sensor, it's twist lock fitted, then remove and un-plug the wiring plug.

The whole sensor has then got to be stripped and thoroughly cleaned and put back together, I've heard of some buying new censors but they are very expensive so just clean it. 

[Ian Lanc]

15 hours ago, frund said:

I have the noise so you are not on your own. Mine is 64 still under warranty. Hmm I feel a trip to the dealership coming on. Where exactly is this sensor.

Get it sorted mate and don't let the Ford garage pull the wool over your eyes! as more dust sticks to the tiny fan blades the more noise it makes to the point you can feel the dash vibrating.

A common advisory by Ford to stop it getting clogged up is when you are cleaning the car out! Remove the ignition key allow the sensor to fully stop, then clean & dust out the car with the sensor not running.