[steve35svt]

Here's the story: About a month ago just before the second run at an auto-x noticed the oil and water temp in the red. Put heater on max right away and cooled almost instantly, oil first. With heat on temp stayed normal rest of day. Coolant and oil level is good. Next day checked it out cooling system had pressure, saw the fan run. Drove next two weeks normally without heat on , no overheating. Next auto-x , just finished first run, noticed oil temp start to climb with water temp going up right after. Again turning heater on brought back to normal level much to quickly. Again able to drive around between events with heater off and no overheating problem , even in light stop and go traffic and hotter weather. Couple people suggest electrical gremlins but I don't trust that thought enough to leave the gauges in the red. Any ideas?[?|]

 

[steve35svt]

Nothing?

 

[bradshsi]

Did you check that both cooling fans are running ?

A common failure on the focus is the cooling fan speed control resistor that sits in a little pocket in between the two cooling fans. When it fails the high speed fan will not run and the engine can overheat when you are sitting stationary.

A good check if you see it overheating is to turn on the AC to full. That should automatically toggle both cooling fans on. If you see the temperatures drop after doing that you know it is a broken resistor, an easy thing to replace.

 

[steve35svt]

Thanks, I'll check that out.

 

[steve35svt]

Both fans run with the AC. Pulled the resistor out and checked continuity, none , open circuit. New one ordered. THANKS!!

 

[ajmorell]

out of curiosity, where'd you order it from?

 

[steve35svt]

Ford dealership. Wrong one came in , but they had one in stock anyway.

 

[dirtbrown]

have you changed your thermostat?