Water temperature gauge

[57focus]

Hi everyone and a happy new year to you all.

I was driving my wifes new fiesta the other night, admiring the lovely instrument panel and I suddenly realised there is no water temperature gauge. I have a focus myself and it does have one. Is this just a cost cutting excercise by Ford? or is it hidden somewhere on the dash? I would have thought that the temp gauge was an important thing to have so it seems strange if it has been omitted.

[FMC]

I noticed this too, and TBH in all my years of driving i've only ever used the temp guage once! And that was when a water pump failed lol - i didn't really need the gauge to tell me it was overheating as the steam coming out of the bonnet was enough of a giveaway!

I think in the new Fiesta there is just a temp warning light which illuminates if the temp gets too high - as good as any gauge in my opinion ;)

:)

[MarkyR]

Water temp gauges are overrated IMO. In my old Rover the head gasket went and I had water and anti freeze coming out of the water bottle lid! It did this for about a couple of weeks before I could get it fixed and my temp gauge never rose above mid way, it's normal position, despite the fact the engine was overheating a bit!!!

So it's one of those gauges I don't trust and won't miss.

[drapley]

Hi everyone and a happy new year to you all.

I was driving my wifes new fiesta the other night, admiring the lovely instrument panel and I suddenly realised there is no water temperature gauge. I have a focus myself and it does have one. Is this just a cost cutting excercise by Ford? or is it hidden somewhere on the dash? I would have thought that the temp gauge was an important thing to have so it seems strange if it has been omitted.

Hi, in the last freeze a month ago I was stuck in traffic for 2 hours averaging 2mph, the car started reporting the out side temperature at 11 degrees but it was only 2 degrees so at this point I took it that the engine heat was causing it and turned all the heating to max, like the good old days (unsure if it would make any difference in a new car) but the out side temp did drop back down in minutes. so does this method still work in new cars?

I would like the needle back, lol

[Jonny87]

Hi, in the last freeze a month ago I was stuck in traffic for 2 hours averaging 2mph, the car started reporting the out side temperature at 11 degrees but it was only 2 degrees so at this point I took it that the engine heat was causing it and turned all the heating to max, like the good old days (unsure if it would make any difference in a new car) but the out side temp did drop back down in minutes. so does this method still work in new cars?

I would like the needle back, lol

Yeah still works in new cars I think. It draws more heat out of the engine. One other thing is to switch the aircon on as well as this will turn the radiator fan on if it isnt already. So heater on full power with the AC on should help the engine temp quite a bit :)

[57focus]

Hi everyone and a happy new year to you all.

I was driving my wifes new fiesta the other night, admiring the lovely instrument panel and I suddenly realised there is no water temperature gauge. I have a focus myself and it does have one. Is this just a cost cutting excercise by Ford? or is it hidden somewhere on the dash? I would have thought that the temp gauge was an important thing to have so it seems strange if it has been omitted.

Thank you all for your opinions. I agree that a warning light may be sufficient but I have just got in the habit with recent cars to just casually glance at the temp gauge occasionally to check and be assured that water is ok albeit providing the gauge is working properly.