Active Grille Shutter System Focus Mk4

[unofix]

Does the 'active grille shutter system' stay closed when the engine is cold, or does it only close when driving at high speed.

My car takes forever to reach normal operating temprature. I know that I have a DTC code showing a HVAC fault, would the active shutter system be classed as part of HVAC ?

[Tizer]

2 hours ago, unofix said:

Does the 'active grille shutter system' stay closed when the engine is cold, or does it only close when driving at high speed.

My car takes forever to reach normal operating temprature. I know that I have a DTC code showing a HVAC fault, would the active shutter system be classed as part of HVAC ?

The PID's for it are under the PCM, so I very much doubt it is part of the HVAC, though you could have a look in there to see if there is any mention in HVAC.

You can do Live Monitoring of it with FORScan where you can see the commanded and actual position from memory. I have had a quick look myself and it opens to varying amounts while driving. I'm sure it is temperature and load dependant but there may be a speed element too but from my experience with other cars, the only time they get really hot is when I've been driving them hard, which is when I would expect the Shutter to open a lot rather than be nearly closed for aerodynamics.

If you do monitor it I would have thought that the Air Con should be off because if the cooling fan is running the Shutter may behave differently.

If you have a 2.0 Diesel then I think that they are just too efficient. The traditional way of checking a thermostat without removing it was to monitor the coolant temperature from cold at idle preferably in graph form and when the thermostat opened the temperature would drop a few degrees for a moment before climbing again. That may not work properly in a modern engine that might have more than one cooling system thermostat plus thermostat controlled EGR, Turbo and other components. 

Out of interest, what fault code do you have in the HVAC.    

[unofix]

Hi Tizer thanks for that very full answer. I've only had the car since the begining of July last year. I'm sure it used to heat up quicker but the weather was probably warmer.

The HVAC fault code is B1088 63-0A

Every thing seems to be working fine, so its a bit difficult to book it in for 'Repair' when I can't say I've noticed any problem

[Tizer]

I drove Diesels for years before getting my current Petrol one and they did take ages to warm up, especially outside summer. Luckily you will have a Supplemental Heater, which if it is the same as the MK2.5 will activate until the coolant gets to 60 or the outside temperature is more than 9 if my memory serves me correctly.

I do remember you posting that fault code before. 

[TomsFocus]

The supplemental heater won't work if the battery charge is low (potential on Mk4!)...and does make a huge difference.  I didn't realise just how much difference until scraping ice this winter.  There's a charging fault on my Golf (works fine while driving, but not while idling) and it seemed impossible to remove the ice despite all heat being directed at the screen...  After a few days I realised I could stop the supplemental heater switching off by fast idling for a minute or two, then the ice would be soft enough to almost wipe off!

[unofix]

4 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

The supplemental heater won't work if the battery charge is low (potential on Mk4!)

Hi Tom, is there any warning on the dash when the supplemental heater is on ?

[Tizer]

15 minutes ago, unofix said:

is there any warning on the dash when the supplemental heater is on ?

Sorry to but in Tom, there is no warning on the dash, but I have always found that if none of the other high draw accessories are on then shortly after starting the instantaneous fuel consumption will be around 0.2. If you switch the heating off by lowering the temperature then it will go to 0.1, proving that the heater must have been on making the Alternator put a strain on the engine therefore it is working. It may not be as noticeable on your more powerful 2.0 Diesel though. 

You may be able to monitor it with FORScan as well, I haven't looked.   

[TomsFocus]

33 minutes ago, unofix said:

Hi Tom, is there any warning on the dash when the supplemental heater is on ?

No.  The only way I noticed is because the rear screen heater would cut out at the same time and that has an LED indicator on the button. 

Sounds daft but you can often smell it when it first switches on - smells like warm metal, almost a light burning smell, same as a convector heater if you have any of those at home.