Ideas Opinions on overheated Mondeo

patrickc

On Christmas eve my 96 1.8td Mondeo overheated on the motorway between Carlow and Naas. I let it cool and got it to a station and put a litre of coolant in it and a small bit of water, 5 miles up the road it overheated again. let it cool again and got the car to Naas. hired a car and left mine there until today.

so I just drove home Naas to Carlow there, the coolant is as full as I had it on xmas eve, the temp gauge stayed at normal the whole way home, there is no gunk around the oil or that, and everything seems to be as should be.

is it possible something had frozen in the system and has now thawed and all is grand?

or has anyone suggestions as to what could of caused the problem, or what may still be the problem.

cheers in advance.

andyseadog

simple stuff first... sticky thermostat?

if your cooling system was frozen, you would have known the second you cranked the engine, and if you had the correct coolant mix it shouldnt have frozen either way

bmw535d

sounds like the thermostat, get a new one asap and watch the heat gauge like a hawk.

patrickc

cheers lads will try that.

do ye know is it a handy enough job on that?

Plug

patrickc wrote: »

cheers lads will try that.

do ye know is it a handy enough job on that?

I know on the current mondeo 1.8 diesel its fairly handy and they are the same engine but if ford modified the engine much I wouldn't know.

patrickc

Plug wrote: »

I know on the current mondeo 1.8 diesel its fairly handy and they are the same engine but if ford modified the engine much I wouldn't know.

just had a google since I posted I reckon it seems ok to do. cheers

ottostreet

My Mondeo TD didnt like the cold at all. Fell to pieces in the space of a few days

patrickc

ottostreet wrote: »

My Mondeo TD didnt like the cold at all. Fell to pieces in the space of a few days

what happened yours?

shamwari

Those old Endura diesels had very strong head gaskets and are tolerant of being thrashed (to a point). So if she isn't using coolant or pressurising the system then I'd be hopeful you got away without lasting damage. I agree with the other contributors that you should replace the thermostat irrespective of whether the car appears ok now or not.

Is it possible that the front of the car got clogged with snow and ice, and that this restricted airflow through the radiator? I saw lots of cars last week that were asking for a boil-up because their clogged fronts were constricting air flow through the rad.

patrickc

shamwari wrote: »

Those old Endura diesels had very strong head gaskets and are tolerant of being thrashed (to a point). So if she isn't using coolant or pressurising the system then I'd be hopeful you got away without lasting damage. I agree with the other contributors that you should replace the thermostat irrespective of whether the car appears ok now or not.

Is it possible that the front of the car got clogged with snow and ice, and that this restricted airflow through the radiator? I saw lots of cars last week that were asking for a boil-up because their clogged fronts were constricting air flow through the rad.

Thats good to know, and I did pull in as soon as she heated up so hopefully theres no long lasting damage.

I tried to get a thermostat today but no one had one in stock, so hoping I can get one in the main dealers tomorrow.

the car was definitely not clogged with snow/ice as I had been careful to keep that clear and had said it to others also.

patrickc

changed the thermostat there, what is the ideal place for the temp gauge to read? it never normally went up much, but now its sitting half way in the normal markings.

also i never heard the fan kicking in at all, when i left it idling to monitor the coolant as it warmed up, I presume it should kick in at some point.

shamwari

patrickc wrote: »

changed the thermostat there, what is the ideal place for the temp gauge to read? it never normally went up much, but now its sitting half way in the normal markings.

also i never heard the fan kicking in at all, when i left it idling to monitor the coolant as it warmed up, I presume it should kick in at some point.

Half way sounds right, and if it stays there after a period of idling then it sounds like you are ok. Those engines have to be left idling for quite some time in order to heat up enough for the fan to kick in.

patrickc

shamwari wrote: »

Half way sounds right, and if it stays there after a period of idling then it sounds like you are ok. Those engines have to be left idling for quite some time in order to heat up enough for the fan to kick in.

great thanks

normally it never even touched the n of normal when warm, just had me wondering

was idling for about 20 mins there to let it warm up.

MajorMax

patrickc wrote: »

On Christmas eve my 96 1.8td Mondeo overheated on the motorway between Carlow and Naas. I let it cool and got it to a station and put a litre of coolant in it and a small bit of water, 5 miles up the road it overheated again. let it cool again and got the car to Naas. hired a car and left mine there until today.

so I just drove home Naas to Carlow there, the coolant is as full as I had it on xmas eve, the temp gauge stayed at normal the whole way home, there is no gunk around the oil or that, and everything seems to be as should be.

is it possible something had frozen in the system and has now thawed and all is grand?

or has anyone suggestions as to what could of caused the problem, or what may still be the problem.

cheers in advance.

The same hing happened to My car on XMas eve. I figured that the coolant was frozen as I had checked the level 2 days before while putting in some screenwash and when it overheated the level of the coolant was noticably increased. I packed snow on the lower engine block and limped home. I had to leave the car at home and rely on Public transport to get to my family for XMas. When I got home on the 28th after the thaw, the car was fine. The scary thing is that the coolant I put in is rated to -15 degrees, it never occurred to me that it would get below that :mad: