Please help. I've had the car 2 months. When I bought the car the weather was warm and had no problems. When the weather is colder (the problem seems to start at 5degC and below), the car is taking ages to warm up, the vents blow ice cold air, the temperature gauge in the car is off the scale. After about 10-15 minutes there is slightly warm air coming out of the vents but still no reading on the gauge or sometimes one bar. Also if I park the car, after about 30-40 minutes when I restart the car the Thermometer that gives the outside temperature, will read several degrees higher than it is, and when I start to drive the car the temperature goes down rapidly (about 1 degree per second) eventually getting to the correct temperature. I've taken my car to the local ford dealer who said they've never heard of a fault like this. They also claim to have put their computer on it, which also says there is no fault.

Please can anybody help?

Definitely not right, it takes 5 mins or less for warm air to start coming out of my vents

Does it drive ok?

Does it drive ok?

It drives ok. It accelerates fine. It doesn't accelerate from a standing start as fast as my previous fiesta but that was a 1.4. It accelerates on motorways fine though

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I'd be slightly bothered that maybe there is a problem with the split cooling system.

The temperature reading is based on the coolant temp, rather than engine temp.

But then if there was a problem with the cooling system, I'd expect the car to throw an error and go in to limp mode as it would be overheating...

My mum's 1L Focus is blowing warm air out after about 2 mins this time of year.

I'd be slightly bothered that maybe there is a problem with the split cooling system.

The temperature reading is based on the coolant temp, rather than engine temp.

But then if there was a problem with the cooling system, I'd expect the car to throw an error and go in to limp mode as it would be overheating...

My mum's 1L Focus is blowing warm air out after about 2 mins this time of year.

It's not overheating. Yesterday the outside temperature was 15 degrees C. When I drove my car it was fine. It heated up like it should, the temperature gauge read normal, and it was giving the correct outside temperature as well. When I returned to the car after it had been parked, the temperature was correct as well. I only seem to get the problem in the cold weather

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I can't understand what would cause it to warm up too slow though.

Unless it is the opposite problem and the cooling system goes in to overdrive when cold.

Can you hear the fan running?

I can't understand what would cause it to warm up too slow though.

Unless it is the opposite problem and the cooling system goes in to overdrive when cold.

Can you hear the fan running?

No the fan isn't running???

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I've been trying to google to see if anyone else has the same problem. I couldn't, but I seen something about Active Grille Shutters. I don't know if my fiesta has them its the Titanium model, if that makes a difference. I can't look at my car as the garage has it. I'm just wondering if it does have the shutters if that could be anything to do with it?

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I could be wrong, but I believe the Fiesta does not have this feature, only the Focus...

I could be wrong, but I believe the Fiesta does not have this feature, only the Focus...

Ah right, back to square one then :(

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Could just be an overactive thermostat, not the most uncommon problem on earth, too much coolant flow, it shows a cooler temp than normal / stays on the cold map and runs a bit funny, easily sorted by Fraud but you'll be waiting until the new year now. wouldn't say it's anything to worry about, it's a very high temp that you should panic over.

Could just be an overactive thermostat, not the most uncommon problem on earth, too much coolant flow, it shows a cooler temp than normal / stays on the cold map and runs a bit funny, easily sorted by Fraud but you'll be waiting until the new year now. wouldn't say it's anything to worry about, it's a very high temp that you should panic over.

Would this also explain how it's reading the external temperature wrong? A ford dealer has looked at it and said they've put their computer on it but can't find a fault?

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"Computer says no", lol.

Ask for the chief technician to look at it, or ask to start one of their demos and see how long that takes compared to yours...

"Computer says no", lol.

Ask for the chief technician to look at it, or ask to start one of their demos and see how long that takes compared to yours...

I might do that, I'll be speaking to them tomorrow, I'm praying for cold weather (I don't think I've ever done that before)

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Hi, just wondered if you had this issue resolved. I'm currently having the same problem.

Yes me too. Exactly as you describe it and on the same car.  Has anyone tracked down the problem?

Booked into Ford tomorrow. They serviced it recently so I've asked them to check it over. 

Will post outcome here. 

I recently had similar issues on my 2009 1.6 TDCI. it was taking ages to warm through, then all of a sudden it would get toasty warm. I also had another problem with the blower fan. The fan would only work on the highest settings. I changed out the resistor which fixed the fan problem, and I decided to change out the thermostat on the car. This has fixed the warming up problem. The car now warms up quite quickly, and I can feel warm with the fan on low settings.

It will interesting to see what Ford say, I decided to get a genuine Ford thermostat from a local Ford garage. I didn't want to take a chance on a Fleabay one. Expensive, but it should last the car out - I hope. 

Well it's in. I drove 100 mile round trip yesterday and the engine temp never went above 2 blobs so am sure there is an issue. The courtesy car they gave me (fiesta 1.0 ecoboost 99ps) warmed to middle of the gauge within 5 mins driving home.

They are also looking at the vibration coming out of the injectors that I've noticed in the last week. 

Last year of warranty!

Update from Ford - all working fine for them they say! No issue to find but they are keeping it overnight anyway?!?!

This has only been an issue since it went into them for a service so maybe they are doing something in the background. I will collect tomorrow and see if the problem has magically gone away. 

 

The external thermometer often reads high when a hot car is parked and then restarted a short while later. This has happened to me with every make of car I have had with an external thermometer, it is normal behaviour.  The heat from the engine / radiator or the sun shining down on the bonnet builds up to give a false reading. The sensor is normally behind the front bumper. Once you start moving again fresh air blows through the grill and the reading returns to the correct value.  This is a separate issue to the engine not warming up, What is your fuel consumption like? if it is high the engine may not be getting to the correct temperature, or taking a long time to warm up. Could be the thermostat is stuck open.

To be honest I haven't been paying too much attention on fuel economy - the other car is a Discovery so anything feels good in comparison. I filled up the other day so will see what I get out of this tank.

Ford say they have checked the thermostat and it is warming up OK when sat running in their workshop. On a motorway run yesterday - decent speed uphill on the M62 - the engine temp never made it into the 'optimal' range on the gauge. 

It would be worth plugging an OBD reader in and obtaining the *actual* coolant temperature rather that what I suspect is a heavily-dampened interpretation of it on the in-car display (what was wrong with using an analogue gauge?!). This will conclusively prove whether the thermostat is operating correctly (or not). (To be fair to the garage, this could well be what they did themselves)

What should the temperature be?