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So it looks like my thermostat has gone...


man10101
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Hello and thanks for reading!

Got myself a 2005 1.6 ti vct petrol mk2 focus last week and am slowly sorting out all the problems that have come with it!

Only paid £300 with only 97000 miles on the clock so am still happy with it especially as ive already sorted most of the problems out myself

So far ive found and sorted the leak (car was full of water when i got it, interior carpet in shed drying out as we speak!) replaced the boot handle, got the blowers working, got the time on the clock to finally stay right, manged to get the time and dash to turn off once the car is locked and found why the spark plug area always had water in it (leaking windscreen washers!)

My latest project is to try and sort the temp gauge / thermostat...

The temp gauge hasnt moved at all since i got the car so was thinking it was just the coolant temp sensor i needed to replace

That was until i did a 220 mile round trip for work yesterday...

As usual the gauge didnt move at all UNTIL i hit traffic

Had been doing a nice 70 (ish!) mph up the motorway for nearly an hour with the gauge not moving but then once i slowed down i noticed the gauge moved up until almost the first line

After a bit of googling it looks like the thermostat is stuck open

So my question is would you just replace the thermostat and keep the sensor / housing or replace the whole lot?

As ive the ti vct engine the complete housing is quite expensive (nearly double than if it was a normal mk2 focus engine) but the thermostat by itself is only a few £s

And where is it on my engine?

Can find many youtube videos for normal mk2s but not so many for the ti vct engine

The closest i can find which hopefully is right is this (mine is also a 2005 ghia)

Although in the video he removes quite a bit to get to the thermostat in the comments someone says all you need to remove is the headlight and he agrees (was the first time hed ever done this when he made the vid) so hopefully not too bad a job if this is right for my engine?!?

Anyways once again thanks for reading and any help given!!!

Matt

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18 minutes ago, man10101 said:

Only paid £300 with only 97000 miles on the clock so am still happy with it especially as ive already sorted most of the problems out myself

 

Well done buddy! A few of us on the forum enjoy low cost motoring. Many here will pay more than that for a detailed valet LOL Best of luck with your 'new' car...

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Thanks mate!

Gota say im impressed with my car

Its got auto dimming rear view mirror, auto lights n wipers and cruise control... and they all work!

Plus it came with 3 months MOT

Best £300 i think ive ever spent!!

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To put that into perspective, many folk pay that for a couple of days car hire! I just love it. Hope you get your issue sorted and that I haven't totally destroyed your initial post LOL

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12 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

To put that into perspective, many folk pay that for a couple of days car hire! I just love it. Hope you get your issue sorted and that I haven't totally destroyed your initial post LOL

Ha!

No mate Uve not destroyed my post! Grateful for the reply!

N thats how im looking at it... if it fails the MOT n i end up scrapping it ill get bout £120 which means ive only paid £180 for 3 months driving! Def cant hire a car for that!!

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Honestly, I'd just block half the radiator with a bit of card...not worth the hassle of changing the stat on a £300 car!  It'll be fine once we hit the warmer summer months! :biggrin: 

 

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1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

Honestly, I'd just block half the radiator with a bit of card...not worth the hassle of changing the stat on a £300 car!  It'll be fine once we hit the warmer summer months! :biggrin: 

 

Liking the sound of this.. I do like my easy fixes!

Im guessing that by blocking off half the rad it makes the engine warm up more?!?

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28 minutes ago, man10101 said:

Liking the sound of this.. I do like my easy fixes!

Im guessing that by blocking off half the rad it makes the engine warm up more?!?

Yeah that's right.  When the stat is open, the coolant constantly flows through the radiator which is cooled by air flow across it.  Block off the rads airflow and the cooling effect will be dramatically reduced.  

Obviously you will need to keep an eye on the temp in stationary traffic as the cooling fan won't be effective.

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If you start having a problem in stationary traffic, crank the heaters up and open the windows 😉

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1 hour ago, alexp999 said:

If you start having a problem in stationary traffic, crank the heaters up and open the windows 😉

That takes me back! Used that as a temporary measure many times, but it was easy to replace the stat in those days anyway. Undo two bolts in the thermostat housing, remove old stat, clean off old gasket, drop in new stat, fit new gasket, housing back on, 5 minutes.😀

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Dunno if it applies to your engine, but my duratorq Mondy has 2 'stats, one for the obvious and one for the oil cooler, and it's usually the latter one that causes overcooling. But it's far too cold atm to be messing with coolants!

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18 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

That takes me back! Used that as a temporary measure many times, but it was easy to replace the stat in those days anyway. Undo two bolts in the thermostat housing, remove old stat, clean off old gasket, drop in new stat, fit new gasket, housing back on, 5 minutes.😀

A few years ago (after my PD engine ate itself) a mate took me to look at a cheap stopgap. 

He/We had slightly over modified his car and the fans didn't work, so we were sat in town traffic in mid July with the needle in the red, the cabin heating and blowers on full and the windows down...  🥵

When we got to see the car in question, the coolant was a mess (supposedly not cleaned after a HG change), I took it for a test anyway as I was desperate...and snapped the handbrake cable the first time I pulled it on...

I really don't miss cheap old cars!! :laugh:

 

 

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In days gone bye when engines were not very efficient and automated Kysor Shutters had not been invented you could rig up a Roller Blind in front of your Radiator which was operated by a cable in the cabin.

I'm sure some of the Ice Road Truckers still do this.

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Not same engine but I've changed the stat on an 04 focus diesel.  Fairly easy job and the stat was cheap.

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5 hours ago, alexp999 said:

If you start having a problem in stationary traffic, crank the heaters up and open the windows 😉

Ha! like most thats something i used top do years ago Works extremely well if i remember!!

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3 hours ago, nicam49 said:

Dunno if it applies to your engine, but my duratorq Mondy has 2 'stats, one for the obvious and one for the oil cooler, and it's usually the latter one that causes overcooling. But it's far too cold atm to be messing with coolants!

To be honest i dont know?!? Ill have to check the workshop manual!

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3 hours ago, Tizer said:

In days gone bye when engines were not very efficient and automated Kysor Shutters had not been invented you could rig up a Roller Blind in front of your Radiator which was operated by a cable in the cabin.

I'm sure some of the Ice Road Truckers still do this.

I might do this and TomFocus blocking half the fan with cardboard idea... saves me getting out to remove it if the engine gets too hot!

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2 hours ago, Guy Heaton said:

Not same engine but I've changed the stat on an 04 focus diesel.  Fairly easy job and the stat was cheap.

Unfortunately ive the 1.6 ti engine Pain to work on and the bits cost more! Although did you replace the whole thermostat housing or just the thermostat itself?!? On their own theyre cheap... the whole housing isnt!!

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Just the stat but it was top of the engine so easy to access.  You only need enough room to get the stat out.

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On ‎2‎/‎19‎/‎2020 at 7:39 AM, man10101 said:

Hello and thanks for reading!

Got myself a 2005 1.6 ti vct petrol mk2 focus last week and am slowly sorting out all the problems that have come with it!

As ive the ti vct engine the complete housing is quite expensive (nearly double than if it was a normal mk2 focus engine) but the thermostat by itself is only a few £s

 

Matt

its engine / chassis number dependant....   some have an "electrically heated !!! thermostat", the heating circuit is linked to the engine ecu ( and comes on dependant upon the load the vehicle is operating under)  On these you need to change when the stat heater circuit fails.  It causes the engine cooling fan more or less runs continuously and the car overheats as the stats opening temp is very high (these are the expensive ones at £110 from ford)

It would be interesting to know if these can swap over to the £30 quid stat and get a tweak to the ecu, I guess if you flashed to a non electric stat map it might be just like other ones ???

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On 2/20/2020 at 4:29 PM, Botus said:

its engine / chassis number dependant....   some have an "electrically heated !!! thermostat", the heating circuit is linked to the engine ecu ( and comes on dependant upon the load the vehicle is operating under)  On these you need to change when the stat heater circuit fails.  It causes the engine cooling fan more or less runs continuously and the car overheats as the stats opening temp is very high (these are the expensive ones at £110 from ford)

It would be interesting to know if these can swap over to the £30 quid stat and get a tweak to the ecu, I guess if you flashed to a non electric stat map it might be just like other ones ???

Hey and thanks for your reply!

Not seen any electrically heated thermostats in all my searching

Seems to be just the one for my engine

Have now managed to find one on eBay for £30 so for that price i may as well swap the whole thing! 

Been away for a few days but tomorrow im gona test my thermostat one more time before buying a new one

Did test before i went away

Let the car sit with the engine running just to see what happens

The pipe coming from the thermostat got warm almost straight away and it took about 15mins for the temp gauge to get to 90 so it does look like its the thermostat stuck open

Will test again in the morn and will time how long before thermostat pipe gets warm although its def way before the engine has warmed up so once again it looks like a stuck open thermostat?!?

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On 2/20/2020 at 10:14 AM, Guy Heaton said:

Just the stat but it was top of the engine so easy to access.  You only need enough room to get the stat out.

Ha! Should of got an 04 focus!!

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