Been using my car for a while now and noticed that the water temperature always seems quite low.

Sitting on the motorway at around 70mph the water temp seems to sit at 56-59 degrees depending on how hot the weather is.
If you sit in traffic it raises to about 72 degrees but the fans will kick in around there somewhere, the hottest i have ever seen is 74 degrees.

Reason i ask is my Golf daily driver always sits at 90 degrees on the gauge.

The car is a Sierra Cosworth running a Pro Alloy rad and the readings are coming directly from the ECU.

Is there any cause for concern with it running this cool or is it better to be cooler?

Could it just be that the reading is coming from a different place to what the clocks read from?

 

Sounds a bit low. Have you checked the thermostat? i think it should open at 86degrees.
Or the gauge is way off. And where do you measure the temps?

 

Not checked the thermostat as it was new when the engine was built (done about 3500miles)

Temp is measured from the blue (ECT) sensor as i run a digital dash that gets its signal from the ECU

 

mines around the same mate with an alloy rad,
Think its a bit low but not sure theres much you / I can do

Thinking about i have a turbo cooler might try removing it and see what that does

 

mine sit's at 70 something iirc.

fan's cut in at 83

 

Ideal operating temperature is in the mid 80s.

Gav, if yours is in the mid to high 50s it will be referencing the cold start enrichment areas of the map still (if it has such maps - not sure who's mapped yours fella).

What's the spec of the cooling system?

 

Should sit at 87°C in normal use with fans coming in at 93°C (temps taken from Pectel monitor which reads engine temp sensor).

 

Gav, thats WAY too cold and shouldnt even have been mapped there, if indeed it was. Id refuse to map that without fixing it. The good news is you are losing a little power too!

 

Thank you guys

What can i check or what options are there to fixing this?

Will
Not sure what you mean, its 2wd set up and is running a pro alloy rad, swirl pot and header tank

 

Start with your thermostat mate, its almost certain to be that.

 

how is the conversion done in your dash? do you know what curve is applied to the voltage across the sensor, as it's not a linear relationship?

table of temperature vs. resistance shown here:

http://www.mmcompsys.com/download_zo...ntc_web_01.pdf

 

I had a similar prob in my saff, found out there was NO thermostat LOL

 

Mine sits around 86-90, but have my fans come on at 95C and go off at 92C, was 100C and 97C, without problems, just wanted them on slightly sooner.
I've not had much luck with gen ford stats, so now use only WAHLE(sp) stats, 3 times the price, but work perfect, warm up time has decreased massively.
tabetha

 

Mine sits at 94-95 on normal driving with the fans kicking in at around 100-105 as its bedding in. But then again, my water temp gauge is a little funny

 

Mine sits about 75 driving at about 70-80

Steve

 

seems there is going to be a lot of worn out cossie engines soon!

 

at least his cooling systems efficient

Youd think it would still eventually get to temperature as i doubt his system is overcooled.

The fact the fans come on at a lower temp suggests the ECT sensor is telling lies.

 

Stu

Took the thermostat off today and have found the problem



Some how the rubber seal has dislodged from the lip.
Thought i was imagining it taking longer to get to temp.
Not sure if its clear in the pic but the lip on the housing is quite corroded so i think this may have been the reason for the seal moving, have got a new thermostat coming and also got a better condition housing.

Just wish i had seen Tabatha's post before buying a Ford one, but least i know to keep my eye on it now.

Cheers for the info guys

 

Warren

I do not believe its the sensor at fault just the standard fan switch and alloy rad.

Here is a quote from Stu's fan switches page on ebay

as can be found here

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/UPRATED-Ford-S...item3ef93591b3

I have one of these fan switches to fit as soon as i can find it

Not ignoring you mate, just don't know the answer but think i found the problem as posted above

 

certainly looks like it. water bypassing the stat will show those symptoms every time. presumably your dash has shown the correct temperature when you first installed the stat, so unlikely to be what i suggested anyway, but it might be worth looking at anyway so that you know you have an accurate display

 

Was running the standard dash when the engine went in so may have just been unlucky to get the problem around the time of fitting the digital dash.

Will see what it reads once the car is back together.

 

The major problem with the ford fan switch is the range, sure when I measured it it span 13C, which is ridiculous, then the stat and fan sw fight stat wanting it hotter than the switch wants!!!
The "modded" switch supplied by msd addresses this problem, with a (from memory) 5 or 6C span.
tabetha

 

Gav,
Depending on what ECU you have, you can always bin the switch and get the ECU to turn the fans on and off, as this is what I have done on my car (T6) .

 

Mike can P8 do that?? I know its the way its done on most more modern ecus.

 

I don't think so.

 

it could be done by interfacing to the datastream and using that to switch it but would require additional hardware.

 

Mike

Mine is on T2, is this something i can easily sort myself or am i just better off fitting the new fan switch and seeing how it works first.
Also i run a seperate fan loom so i would assume i some how would have to wire the fans into the ECU??

 

My Cosworth water temp gauge points at 'R' while cruising normally. When it gets bit hotter (city driving, booting etc.) it points 'O' and then fan kicks in. Anyone know what are those temperatures in celsius, as I only have original water temp gauge and I'm curious. And also, what is the temperature on the red area of the gauge? Thanks.

 

I'm the same mate and I between the r and m is normal

 

Buy a laser temp gun , great bit of kit . T