.. can anyone answer the problem of 140degreesC reading on the dash diagnostics? Bakelit79 said 142-3 in initial post. I have 2005 1.6Ti with exact same thing .. when at idle on the drive i lost bottle as dash diagnostic engine temp reading hit 118, while temp dial gauge still well below center, which one to believe? .. thanks for help ..

On 3/30/2020 at 7:45 AM, ChaserHUN said:

I have a 2005 ford focus ti-vct. I had a problem that the water temeprature won't go above 70 celsius. The full thermostate has been replcaed like 2 weeks a go. After that the temperature was in center. A few days ago the temp won't rise again, but sometimes it won't even go above 60 celsius. The heating in the car is a lot weaker too. So if the thermostate is working fine, because it's new, what the problem can be? I thought the thermostate works fully mechanically.

A little late but i wonder if the new thermostat is faulty too.

 

On 7/19/2020 at 12:09 AM, D-Focus said:

.. can anyone answer the problem of 140degreesC reading on the dash diagnostics? Bakelit79 said 142-3 in initial post. I have 2005 1.6Ti with exact same thing .. when at idle on the drive i lost bottle as dash diagnostic engine temp reading hit 118, while temp dial gauge still well below center, which one to believe? .. thanks for help ..

Hello,

If I remember correctly the dash diagnostic temperature is the temperature of the engine's head, the gauge is the coolant temperature.

If your gauge is well below center, you probably have a bad thermostat. With the summer temperatures the temperature rise a little, but when winter will come, it will probably move only few millimeters... and no or very weak heater.

One test you can do, let the engine warm up (don't move the car) and when the temperature is stable around 90°C, go for a ride. If the temperature decrease, the thermostat is gone.

thanks bob34 .. 

Quote

On 7/29/2020 at 8:49 PM, bob34 said:

If I remember correctly the dash diagnostic temperature is the temperature of the engine's head, the gauge is the coolant temperature.

yes I have noticed that the Temp comes down with faster driving so ok, bloomin' thermostat .. not a simple job on this motor.

.. are you saying that possibly the head temp is ok at that level (like 118degreesC)? i dont know too much but sound quite out of wack to me? thanks for help ..

No,it is not.

It should be around 140°C as you quoted from Bakelit79.

Right now, your engine does not run at the optimal temperature, but we are in summer. When cold weather will come, the gauge will not move and you will not have heater too.

You should consider to change the thermostat, this is a well known weak part of this engine.

On 11/30/2015 at 9:59 PM, bakelit79 said:

About 10 minutes later at around 142-143 degree C

 

On 8/23/2020 at 5:03 PM, bob34 said:

It should be around 140°C as you quoted from Bakelit79.

thanks for the reply bob34, but ...  normal operating temp for most engines is between 95 and 105 degC. To make the point if you google 'ford focus instrument cluster', click on images, you will see that the vertical increment on the temperature gauge dash display is at about 90degC, while the red line appear at about 110degC, with gauge MAX at 120! 140degC is a massive overheat, I wonder if bakelit79 engine is still OK? Still wondering what is going on with the gauges being so out of correspondence with each other? Had this ages ago with air trapped after component change (on a citroen), has anyone heard of this happening on the duratec engine? .. is there a coolant bleed for use upon re-fill? .. all the best, D

The head temperature is a different thing. The only thing you should be concerned about is the gauge on the dash. If it is not steady around the middle, your thermostat is probably damaged.

Once again, it is very common thing on this engine.

On 1/8/2018 at 8:49 PM, 2010powen said:

hi all, quick update. Got my focus back from garage today after having thermosat replaced. Heaters are now red hot and temp needle just off centre ( were it should be!)

Definitely the first port of call for anyone with same issue. 

15 hours ago, D-Focus said:

 

thanks for the reply bob34, but ...  normal operating temp for most engines is between 95 and 105 degC. To make the point if you google 'ford focus instrument cluster', click on images, you will see that the vertical increment on the temperature gauge dash display is at about 90degC, while the red line appear at about 110degC, with gauge MAX at 120! 140degC is a massive overheat, I wonder if bakelit79 engine is still OK? Still wondering what is going on with the gauges being so out of correspondence with each other? Had this ages ago with air trapped after component change (on a citroen), has anyone heard of this happening on the duratec engine? .. is there a coolant bleed for use upon re-fill? .. all the best, D

anything above 110C is likely to kill a head gasket / cause damage

I urge anyone with fun here to check if its got the stupid electrical plug on the thermostat housing some versions got.... on these the stat costs 110 quid, mine blew its internal heater element and then it won't open.  Its designed to work like this and the engine ECU turns the rapid heater on under load to get cooling go round

Hello all

I have a Focus 1.6 ti vct and am currently installing my third thermostat, the issue with the first one was that the plastic retainer at 12 o'clock had snapped so wasn't holding the metal clip which holds in the spring, the second was slightly bent (?) so let water by as no longer sealed, and I have fitted the third today.

After the install and bleeding etc. I have found that the engine still takes a while to get up to temp, and once the engine was up to temp I go for a drive and at first everything seems ok I then turn the heater fan speed up to two and the temp gauge starts to fluctuate and slowly drops so I turn the heater off the then temp rises back up, I then turn the heater back to fan speed two and the temp stabilises, so I'm thinking maybe there was a little airlock still in the system hence the fluctuation and why the temp has stabilised.

I then decide to push further with this drive and head to a 50mph road and guess what oh yes the temp literally falls like a rock back down to 60 and remains there even when I return to a 30 mph road, I then park up and remain stationary at idle with a little rev but it still takes forever to rise back up to temp, bearing in mind the engine is warm and has been driven so while stationary should just really rise back to temp, but no. At this point I end the test drive.

The Ford workshop manual states the following:

The 1.6L Duratec-16V Ti-VCT engine is equipped with an electronic thermostat. The electronic thermostat will manually open if the coolant temperature has reached 98°C and there is no current flowing to the thermostat electrical element. When the engine is under load the electrical thermostat will receive a current from the PCM. The electrical current will heat the element inside the thermostat to allow the engine coolant to flow through the radiator when the coolant temperature has reached 60°C.

So now I'm thinking is there an issue with the pcm and how it controls the thermostat, basically inside the thermostat is a electrical heated element that the pcm controls so in layman's terms the thermostat can be opened by the pcm based on load of the engine and not just rely solely on the heat of the coolant to open and close the thermostat as per conventional thermostats. 

I have also previously changed the temp sensor to eliminate any false readings being sent to the pcm but here I am still with the same issue, a proper head scratcher which now requires further investigation.

I welcome any feed back as I'm sure everyone else will, many thanks...

 

Below is the link to the workshop manual if you like some bedtime reading...

https://workshop-manuals.com/ford/focus_2004.75_07.2004/mechanical_repairs/3_powertrain/303_engine/303-03b_engine_cooling_1.6l_duratec-16v_ti-vct_(sigma)/description_and_operation/diagnosis_and_testing/engine_cooling/

Sorry to revive this old post but its very relevant to the issue I’m having at the moment with my 2005 1.6 ti-vct Focus
 

Did anyone manage to sort their issue with cold running! Can you post how you sorted it please (if you remember) 

 

I’ve fitted 3 stats, waterpump, new rad, refitted old rad, temp sensor, reset everything I can find with ELM and FORSCAN. 
 

I’m close to torching this car…