Dean_W

Can someone plz help me with a problem found tonite.

I was stood stilll in my car and it boiled over. temp guage didn't go in the red. Fan didn't come on.

I am leanign towards either thermostat, water pump, or fan switch.

Car is a 2000 zetec s fiesta.

Any help appreciated....tar much

punto_td

boiled over as in the coolant came out the cap?

if so it could be a faulty coolant cap if your temp was ok.

Dean_W

yeah, it started steaming. Is there any checks i can do to make sure anyhthing else aint broken?

punto_td

well if its not over heating and its steaming from the cap it deffo sounds like a failed cap, get the coolant temp read by a infra red digi gun thing to make sure its not a dodgy guage though.

tabetha

The first thing you need to do is fix the fan problem, as no matter if the engine has no fault other than fan it will still overheat if idling long enough.
Is your heater ok ?, if it is this shows the water pump is circulating water, leaving the stat as the most likely culprit, a cap seal can do it but would have to be seriously knackered or missing, when you twist the cap do you get a hiss, if you do it's holding pressure.
You can check the gauge by earthing out the gauge sender lead onto the engine and it should show max, seems like you may have more than 1 problem.
tabetha

Dean_W

Thanks Tabetha. I've had another look into this problem today and this is what i think. Please give your input on this.

Car started from cold. Stat is closed holding water in the engine. When it opens it lets hot water into the rad, it then fills the rad and the return pipe heats up so i think the pump is ok as well as the stat. The cap does let out a hiss when you poen it slightly so i think that is fine too.

I'm new to Fords so i'm not sure where anyhting is on the engine at all.

tabetha

That sounds ok and correct, when warming the heater circuit should be warming well before the main flow starts through the rad.
To find the temp gauge sender look around the head or stat cover, my friend had one of these but now sold otherwise I'd have had a look for you.
Like I say maybe more than 1 fault, with engine running unplug the plugs around the stat housing, one will be the temp sender for the ECU, this is not the one you want, but the ecu one should cause the fans to run all the time, ignition on whilst unplugged, so there will no doubt be another seperate sender for the gauge, at least this will identify it for you, I imagine these cooling fans may be ecu controlled, but not sure, I'll find out for you.
In the meantime check all the fuses particularly any with a fan symbol on them.
tabetha