[Rob06ZX3]

hey!
got a question for yall

i made a trip this weekend... 14 hours 1 way.. then 10 hours back home. but when i was driving the engine was in the.. 3-5K rpm range for hours and hours on end. im prety impressed with the 32PMG average mpg i was pulling but didnt really like the 3-5K range.
is there any way to make sure the engine is not over heating?

like manually turn on the cooling fan?

the hole trip, both ways the temp gauge was planted at 1/2 way, i would take a brake every few hours and pop the hood open at a restop and let it idle as i took a brake

yes, 24 hr's of driving between friday night-sunday night. im just a bit crazy [wiggle]

 

[Egz]

If the engine was overheating, the guage would have moved into the red area; the Focus has a surprisingly good cooling system. I wouldn't worry about it unless you were doing that trip every day.

(PS- watch out for those homonyms [] )

 

[Rob06ZX3]

If the engine was overheating, the guage would have moved into the red area; the Focus has a surprisingly good cooling system. I wouldn't worry about it unless you were doing that trip every day.

(PS- watch out for those homonyms [] )

yeah, im really supprised about the cooling system. even though it was in the 30's and i was moving, but still... 3K+ rpm for hours on end...

homonyms......?

big words!!!! run!!!! [doorpeek]

 

[CJohn364]

The gauge at the half way point is normal. I drove mine from Kentucky to Washington without a hitch. Ran great.

 

[Jgrove998]

3-5k? on the highway....you musta been flying I do a lot of driving to and from college and I've never had any problems with cooling. Most of the time my temp gauge is a little below halfway, maybe cause of the CAI.

You should be good anyways.

 

[mtadd162]

yea the 3 grand constantly is kinda annoying (especially since i have such a bad exhaust drone)....6th gear would be nice to have, but i know what u mean i feel bad driving with the engine at 3-4k for a long period of time, well i dont neccarily feel bad, i just hope it can handle it lol

 

[bdnld4482]

i love our cars on the highway. or driving for that matter. there great lil cars. as for the cooling problem. somone on here had the same problem and was wondering the same thing. give turbo tom a pm. he helped the gey out , i think he said to change out the thermos stat. but dont quote me.

 

[warneej]

if the car is running at temperature, then you should have no issues, the car does nice on road trips...

at 80mph im at 3000rpm...how fast could you be going to hit 5k? unless you dropped down to 4th gear?

 

[04OrangeSVT]

you'll be fine on the highway, unless you're running some nice boost. But most cars tend to get warmer in city driving since there is less airflow through the engine bay.

 

[CapnGnarly]

I do a consistent 80-85 on interstates, sitting right at the 3-3.25k mark. 5k would be way up there, you doing 95-105 out there? Good for you, just keep your tires working I guess...

But no, 3k is not unheard of at cruising speed for us, nor is 4k (if you're running at a good clip). 5k, meh...a little high, the car can handle it, just don't do it everyday.

 

[thenorm]

its really hard to over heat on the hwy with all that air flowing thru the radiator (unless u have coolant flow problem). I bet the fans never even turned on while u were driving.

 

[DURATECoftheDesert]

You can override it, but the the 05 to 07 (non-ST) are designed to run a little hot than usual it is also usually a emission situation.

 

[Rob06ZX3]

yeah i had that thought to... how much did the engine like running that high

but yes, i was going a little fast.. but with a 24 hour drive time.. and the flow of traffic and those crazy people with luxury cars... i just tried keeping up with them. but it was done responsibly, there was Very little traffic a nice full moon good driving lights but yeah, no excuse for speeding.. except for about a hour.. i needed a rest stop real bad!!! NEVER eat taco bell before or during a long drive!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[MightyMouse]

FYI 5k rpm's is 120mph.

 

[mtadd162]

lol did u go do an experiment for us jason?

 

[Brindfan]

if the car is running at temperature, then you should have no issues, the car does nice on road trips...

at 80mph im at 3000rpm...how fast could you be going to hit 5k? unless you dropped down to 4th gear?

That's what I was gonna ask. At 80mph My tach reads about 3100-3200rpm. Unless he was pulling some grades, it shouldn't have been anywhere near 5000rpm.

 

[warneej]

when i broke my 5th/R shift cables and had to drive all the way to FL in 4th gear on the highway, 75-80 was 4000rpm soooo

 

[02SVTsilverstreak]

homonyms......?

big words!!!! run!!!! [doorpeek]

You have nothing to worry about in cases like that. If you do want to check on long trips, thats fine, can't see any harm done.

Another thing, I wouldn't want to manually kick the fans on, because they aren't designed for that constant stress. While it may not hurt them, I sure would hate for something to go wrong and them not work at all.

That would be a whole mess if you got a hole in a hose or something. [rofl]


Haha homonyms.

 

[nardvark]

The cooling system on these cars is rock solid. We did a 14 hour drive, half of it through the mountains, and the coolant needle never budged.

Also, according to my owner's manual, even if you do try to destroy your engine by overheating it, the Duratec has a failsafe mode where it deactivates two cylinders and has them act as air pumps to prevent engine damage. You couldn't race on those two cylinders, but it will let you limp home or to a repair shop.

Would've been a nice thing to have, my wife's last car (Contour) died when overheating killed the head gasket.

 

[mtadd162]

hmmm i didnt know that ^^^ valuable information...even though im not gunna test it lol

this isnt a realistic question really, well unless you live in some deserted area, but if your cruising at 5k-6k and the engine is still at good operating temperatures...that still cant be healthy for the engine?