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One way to make sure your cooling system is up to snuff is to get regular coolant flushes. Lucky, you may not have to worry about what temperature your cooling fans come on if you are sure your cooling system is working at peak efficiency. Figuring out what temperature your cooling fans come on will be a lot more difficult. Your thermostat temperature should be listed in the parts catalog at your dealership and your local auto parts store may also be able to tell you what temperature thermostat your vehicle came stock with. What should my coolant temperature be? It should always be between the temperature your thermostat is designed to open and the temperature your cooling fans are designed to come on at. If temperatures get too hot the coolant can start to boil reducing its ability to cool the engine and possibly causing damage to the engine and its components. If temperatures in your engine stay too cool combustion will have to be too rich to keep things running smoothly. Most engines are designed to run with coolant temperatures between 160 degrees and 200 degrees. If the thermostat is fully open and engine coolant temperature continues to rise the engine cooling fans will turn on to increase air flow through the radiator and reduce coolant temperatures. The thermostat is either a mechanically control valve or electronically controlled by your engine’s computer and opens to allow more coolant to flow through the radiator where it can be cooled. The coolant temperature is controlled by two things, your vehicle’s thermostat and the engine’s cooling fans.
#Normal coolant temp code
As vehicles and their engine control computers have gotten more advanced, the computer even tracks coolant temperatures and will set an engine code if the temperature gets too high.ĭifferent vehicles are designed to operate at different temperatures to protect the engine and it’s components as well as allow it to operate at maximum efficiency.
#Normal coolant temp driver
Almost every vehicle sold in the US has a temperature gauge installed to make sure the driver has the opportunity to keep an eye on coolant temperatures. If you don't, the system is adequate for the use and you won't see a benefit.Coolant temperature is a very important thing to keep track of in your vehicle. thermostat & fan settings would help avoid that. If you got into the red at the end of an autocross run, using a lower temp. to start also can help with spot heating issues from sudden increase in power (heat), giving the system time to catch up as coolant circulates. Normal cooling system isn't sized for constant high power & heat production, but with more range to absorb temp. A few have run without ANY cooling system, concrete in the water jacket to solidify the block for more strength & it just has a long cooling time between runs. First step of that type is having a water tank that's adequate to cool a single pass, it can cool off and/or have water replaced after the run. Think of a dragster that doesn't even run a radiator. on a performance engine is a way to give the system additional "range" to absorb temporary spikes in heat production.ĭoesn't help if you're running a constant high speed/load and the cooling system just can't keep up, but in many cases the higher heat load is temporary so the system has a chance to dissipate the extra heat later. So what are the normal operating temps for the Focus supposed to be? Where's hot or overheating territory? And what sort of things should I start looking into as a means of troubleshooting if the car is indeed supposed to be running cooler and the fan should be kicking in when it isn't? Otherwise, I have not noticed the fans running while driving around, but it could also be that I simply didn't notice. The only time I've heard the fan cycle for sure is with use of the A/C, and to me it's pretty clear when it does come on. The temperature never really read below 200.Īnother thing I haven't noticed is the fan coming on, so that's what got me wondering if maybe the Focus just runs hotter than my old car (which liked to hang around 185 deg F), and maybe I just didn't hit the too hot territory yet. It didn't vary much whether I was moving, stationary, or even on the highway. I noticed the temperature hanging around in the 200-220 range while driving around, and sometimes a bit higher than that.
#Normal coolant temp Bluetooth
I have an OBD2 Bluetooth dongle and the Torque app, and used that a few days ago while out doing some normal driving just to see what I could see. The car is a stock 03 ZX3, manual, and I just picked it up 2 weeks ago, so I'm still learning and feeling out things. I just wanted to ask about the coolant system operation on the 1st gen Focus to see if I may have an issue or not.
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