Hi i have an N Reg escort 1.4 and if im sat still in traffic or anywhere for to long the coolant tank starts to steam, i have driven around init all day yesterday and not a single issue but today i was caught in traffic and it started to steam, this happened a few days ago at the garage where they had the engine running but car not moving and then started to steam then aswell, this is my first ford so all help and suggestions would be great

thanks

 

Whats the temp gauge say when its steaming

 

Hair line crack on bottle?

 

Dodgy cap

 

Cooling fan working?

 

Hi everyone temp gauge doesn't move, I'm gonna strip it out tomorrow to check pipes an bottle as far as I'm aware the fan is but will again check tomorrow as to dark now.

Thanks for the ssuggestions, will update if I find anything ...or nothing :s

 

As Sbt83 says a cap with no seal or a dodgy seal can cause this.You say there no needle moving on the temp gauge is the wire plugged in?or is it sticking on the clocks its self.Thermostat seems to be working if there is steam trying to pass through the tank.And as Ritchie st says does the fan work is it plugged in or a loose connection or a blown fuse?

 

Sounds like the fan isn't kicking in?
I put my escort on a manual switch on the dash for when the temp gauge got too high in traffic etc

 

Nice back up plan I have one fitted as well

 

Hi everyone, so had a look around and found a small leak on then rad ... Put rad sealer in and took it for a bit of a drive and seems to be OK at the moment until I get a new rad... Anthony Lea's idea is great I'll deffinatly look into that but I think the fan its self is buggered so might have to replace that if it is.

 

hi all sorry for the delayed update but been busy working

what point did you hook this up to and did you use an inline fuse or anything like that as having trouble hooking up a manual switch. i had it working from a block behind the stereo but the cable i had was to small and fried so had to remove it.

rad is still holding out from the rad weld though which is good so end of the month will get all sorted just need the temp fix for the meantime.

 

You could use a fuse but hook it up to a relay for protection

 

ok cool so ...sorry for taking the stupid route but could you give me the best way in lining all up ie where to put relay/ get supply ect .. im a techy guy but also a plumber so electrics aint my speciality

 

Should be a 30amp fuse in the fuse box for the fan, more often than not these get blown if the fan is a bit sticky. See if the fan spins freely, check the fuse.

Some Escorts have a fan switch in the top hose, if your's has, with the ignition on ,bridge the switch terminals to run the fan to test it. If the fan doesn't cut in on it's own may need to replace the switch.

If it doesn't have a seperate fan switch, the fact that the temp gauge is inop may have something to do with it.

Whatever you do, don't bridge out the engine coolant temp sensor for the ECU.

 

Im also a plumber but also a car mechanic and hgv driver lol.Any way find a suitable place to mount your switch imo I would keep the relay if possible inside the car to keep the weather away from the relay.Use a 4 pin relay pin 30 accessory (FAN) pin 85 earth pin 87 perm live and 86 switchable ignition.and you should have it.Use a multi meter if not sure to find switchable ignition hope that helps

 

Ok cool looked on halfords for it and they got one for a fiver so not bad i guess ... also the cable found this on halfords site http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/s...Id_255229#tab1
27 amp cable would that be ok or would i need a higher ampage due to the 30 amp relay?

 

reason im using halford is the fact i have a discount card so knocks a half decent chunk of the price

 

also could i use the switchable ignition point from behind the radio ? or would you suggest using a different one

 

Don't wire in an aftermarket switch. Fix the reason it isn't working properly as you are just covering up another fault.

 

THIS!

 

the idea is to get it sorted properly and end of month as already had a friend qoute for a full fix, but what i need now is just a temp!

 

27amp wire should be fine.You can use the wire from the radio for the switchable ignition and the live.As above try and get the real problem sorted.My problem is a little different I have my wires to put in for the fan to be control by the ecu but ive not had time yet,i should have finished it when I did my engine conversion lol.Hope you get it sorted

 

Will the wiring to the radio support an extra 30 amp load from the cooling fan?

 

Just does my head in, I see this sort of thing every day. Last week one of our machines at work had a warning alarm going off. One of the engineers at another of our depots found it fit to squirt a load of silicone into the alarm to shut it up.

I went to fix the fault properly, and found it was only a loose wire in a contact block, took me less than 2 minutes to find and fix, then about an hour to pick the sealant out of the alarm!!!

 

Top advice..

edit -RichieST - Yep, know what you mean!!

 

Yes it would.It doesn't have to be the stereo it can be put to the battery its self.Ive seen alsorts of ways.Im no sparky buy the way its how ive seen it done.Im currently running that set up in my Fezzer now.The relay is taking the load