Hot to trot....

[alexkp]

I am interested to learn what are the general operating temperatures of other owner's cars? After a perhaps four or five minutes in a traffic jam my S2 will reach appx. 75-85 degrees and the fan will cut in. Is this the experience of others? The car seems to run at about 70 degrees or so most of the time. Is this about right or am I overheating?

[shnozz]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

thats about right, mine used to run at approx 80 - 85 - apart from sitting outside the grandstands of le mans in a traffic queue where it hit 105 and we had to put the heaters on - very pleasant with the roof on the car due to the beer in the boot...

[M@H]

you're not overheating at all.. optimum operating temperature is 80-90 degrees... if anything, 70 sounds a bit cool for an S Series.

Cheers
Matt.

[alexkp]

Cheers chaps - I'm now feeling much better about this. As a new owner I was finding it surprising how much time the fan was on during general driving. Does your fan kick in about 85 degrees?

[andyf007]

The thermostat should be fully open at 88 degrees and the fan should cut in at about 90 degrees. Mine, however still insists on running at about 70 - 75 and only goes up to 90 when stationery. Ford say that the running temperature should be about 85 - 88 for the 2.9, so I think mine runs a little too cool. IIRC another thread on here mentioned that the ECU's engine temperature sensor plays a part in this. Apparently theirs ran at 70, but after replacing the sensor it then ran at nearer 88.

Andy

[stephen pook]

I've had mine a couple of weeks or so and it runs between 85 and 95. It cools to about 75-80 when doing about 80mph on the motorway. It doesn't overheat as I've had it crawling around in traffic in London for a couple of hours after a blast on the motorway and it stayed at 85-95with no signs of strain and no coolant loss.

Would suggest yours is fine. A little cool maybe. The other issue is the accuracy of the temp guage. I'm sure it would be interesting to see what they all read if they were re-calibrated.

Cheers,

Steve.

[alexkp]

Thanks Stephen, do you all find that the fan is on quite a bit during general driving though? ie, a few minutes driving around town and it comes on?

[andyf007]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

No, only when stopped in traffic and then it takes quite a while to get up to 90. Once I start moving again it usually goes off within a minute or two. It could be that the stat that controls the fan is faulty and it's cutting in too soon.

Andy

[stephen pook]

Alex, I would concur with Andy on this point. If I'm crawling in traffic then the fan is on every few minutes but if I'm making reasonable progress, say 20-30 mph and just stopping at lights then it just comes on occasionally. ie when the temp gets above 90 degrees. Hope that's helpful.

Steve.

[mycroft]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

There is a low temp otter switch [its mentioned in the bible] you may have one fitted. I fitted one to my car as i had lots of over heating problems .I think some switches have the temp stamped on them but not certain.
IMHO running on the cool side is pref to overheating.
Dale

[WildfireS3]

My Fan tends to cut in around 90 degrees. Mainly in Traffic though.