Recently bought this escort 1.8 tddi finesse, endura-de engine and I've noticed that the temperature gauge creeps up quite a bit when driving with the lights on, it's especially noticeable on fairly long journeys

I also have a gti escort which had a similar issue when I first got it and I cured that one by replacing the thermostat and thermal sensor so I thought I'd try the same thing on this one, but I can't find either on this engine

It's the first diesel car I've worked on myself so there's an awful lot I'm unfamiliar with

Anyone know if these even have a thermal sensor and/or thermostat? If so where might I find them?

Anyone know what else might be causing this behaviour where the temp creeps up with the lights on?

I'm not sure that the engine really is running hotter when this happens as there doesn't seem to be any effect on how the car runs

In case it's relevant, under normal daytime driving the needle on the gauge sits firmly at the halfway point and almost never moves unless driven REALLY hard

 

Stat is on the front right as you stand over the engine mate looks like most normal stat housings, Gotta ask whats your heater like as mines shit lol

 

Thanks for the info mate

As for the heater it's almost too good believe it or not, with the blower on 1, if you turn the heat all the way it's stifling, send ya to sleep almost ... maybe the heater shouldn't be that hot either lol

 

I wish mine was ill probably end up doing the heater matrix before next winter

 

Oddly enough it seems to've sorted itself out now

I am doing a few mods to it but the only thing I've done so far that I can think might've been affecting the heat is that I've done away with the stock air filter box and filter pipe altogether and did a complete new filter/pipe setup

Didn't bother looking but maybe the air filter was overdue a change by a few years or something, the car had barely been driven since 2007 so I also doubt anything much was done to it in terms of maintenance/servicing during that time either

I suppose it's conceivable that if it wasn't sucking enough cold air in it could cause the car to run hot, there was even a pile of leaves sitting on top of the intercooler when I first popped the bonnet lol

 

Lol get it serviced asap they kill them selves when cam belts snap,

wish mine would run hotter it gets to just over n on the temp gauge and the fuckin fan kicks in to cool it down again

 

Serviced it and changed the belts (timing & injector pump) as well as the tensioners & pulleys within a week or two of buying it

Thought it had sorted itself out but I was mistaken, doesn't do it as much now but still does on occasion. I know it's common on escorts for the coolant temp sensor to become faulty or just plain fail and I picked up new sensor and thermostat at the weekend so will change both over the next few days

I'm thinking it's probably the sensor at fault so I'm keeping my fingers crossed