2001 Ford Focus Overheating issue

My Focus has 90K miles and has been maintained and operated well for
5+ years. Brought it to mechanic several weeks ago for tune-up, tires,
and coolant change. It was my first coolant change, and the coolant
was the yellow/orange stuff. Mechanic flushed and replaced coolant
with green stuff. After about 30 minutes of driving, temp gauge moved
3/4 mark--first time it ever moved past middle. Mechanic said it just
needed to be burped. Picked it up, same problem not resolved. Return
to mechanic, and he said water pump impeller had split apart (and
showed me it broken). While at it, he changed thermostat. Once again,
i drive car, and the little movement on the temp gauge starts after 30
minutes or so. I called him back and said I am still not resolved. He
said he will look into temp gauge issues, and that he ruled out head
gasket, and fans came on at proper temp. Now I'm $1500 down the drain
and have a problem eerily cooincident with having fluid changed. I
trust my mechanic. But obviously I'm interested in not running up
another $1000. The temp gauge generally moves to 3/4 or 2/3 over at
50-60mph. Above 60, it starts nearing 8/10 over. It also occurs at
idle after coming off a highway. I notice what seems to be the air
condition fan on-=something i never noticed outside of summer. When it
clicked off at a light, the temp swung down, which i thought was
strange. It also will cool down to middle range with normal driving,
but then head up again. My issues: water pump looked busted, but
obviously wasn't affecting system beforehand--or did a coolant flush
bust a fan (I dont think so). I notice the fan on when it shouldn't be
on--or hasn't been on before, except during summer with air
conditioner on. Is that an issue? Car is hot with the higher speeds
above 60, but best right after taking off from idle up to 40, where it
tends to not get hotter than 2/3 mark before returning to middle. Any
help or direction would be most appreciated

On Mar 6, 3:30 pm, "bkviking" > wrote:
> My Focus has 90K miles and has been maintained and operated well for
> 5+ years. Brought it to mechanic several weeks ago for tune-up, tires,
> and coolant change. It was my first coolant change, and the coolant
> was the yellow/orange stuff. Mechanic flushed and replaced coolant
> with green stuff. After about 30 minutes of driving, temp gauge moved
> 3/4 mark--first time it ever moved past middle. Mechanic said it just
> needed to be burped. Picked it up, same problem not resolved. Return
> to mechanic, and he said water pump impeller had split apart (and
> showed me it broken). While at it, he changed thermostat. Once again,
> i drive car, and the little movement on the temp gauge starts after 30
> minutes or so. I called him back and said I am still not resolved. He
> said he will look into temp gauge issues, and that he ruled out head
> gasket, and fans came on at proper temp. Now I'm $1500 down the drain
> and have a problem eerily cooincident with having fluid changed. I
> trust my mechanic. But obviously I'm interested in not running up
> another $1000. The temp gauge generally moves to 3/4 or 2/3 over at
> 50-60mph. Above 60, it starts nearing 8/10 over. It also occurs at
> idle after coming off a highway. I notice what seems to be the air
> condition fan on-=something i never noticed outside of summer. When it
> clicked off at a light, the temp swung down, which i thought was
> strange. It also will cool down to middle range with normal driving,
> but then head up again. My issues: water pump looked busted, but
> obviously wasn't affecting system beforehand--or did a coolant flush
> bust a fan (I dont think so). I notice the fan on when it shouldn't be
> on--or hasn't been on before, except during summer with air
> conditioner on. Is that an issue? Car is hot with the higher speeds
> above 60, but best right after taking off from idle up to 40, where it
> tends to not get hotter than 2/3 mark before returning to middle. Any
> help or direction would be most appreciated

sounds to me like a marginal radiator; am curious why you switched
from the new style coolant to the old stuff? if not properly flushed
can cause some goo (that's the technical term) to form in the cooling
system which can interfere with heat transfer. But anyway I guess you
will probably find a partially plugged radiator and at this point you
will have to replace it. whichever coolant you choose to continue
with I would flush well before adding any.

Also do you have any body damage to the front air dam, etc. that would
have changed the airflow through the radiator?

good luck

nate

thanks nate.. pretty much through research and advice from folks like
yourself that's what i've been thinking. The MOMENT the car started
getting hot, i called the mechanic and questioned WHY he put in the
different coolant and he told me "it's just a color and doesnt
matter." Well, in the case you just brought up, it does matter, and
that's what I've begun to suspect. I'll post when i get a response.

In article .com>, N8N wrote:
>> and coolant change. It was my first coolant change, and the coolant
>> was the yellow/orange stuff. Mechanic flushed and replaced coolant
>> with green stuff.

> sounds to me like a marginal radiator; am curious why you switched
> from the new style coolant to the old stuff? if not properly flushed
> can cause some goo (that's the technical term) to form in the cooling
> system which can interfere with heat transfer. But anyway I guess you
> will probably find a partially plugged radiator and at this point you
> will have to replace it. whichever coolant you choose to continue
> with I would flush well before adding any.

There is a new(er) 'green' coolant that is universally compatible between
old green and orange at least it says so on the label. It was the only
'green' prestone I could buy last time I bought coolant.

Assuming his mechanic isn't a total moron, that's probably what was used.

On Mar 6, 4:36 pm, (Brent P) wrote:
> In article .com>, N8N wrote:
> >> and coolant change. It was my first coolant change, and the coolant
> >> was the yellow/orange stuff. Mechanic flushed and replaced coolant
> >> with green stuff.
> > sounds to me like a marginal radiator; am curious why you switched
> > from the new style coolant to the old stuff? if not properly flushed
> > can cause some goo (that's the technical term) to form in the cooling
> > system which can interfere with heat transfer. But anyway I guess you
> > will probably find a partially plugged radiator and at this point you
> > will have to replace it. whichever coolant you choose to continue
> > with I would flush well before adding any.
>
> There is a new(er) 'green' coolant that is universally compatible between
> old green and orange at least it says so on the label. It was the only
> 'green' prestone I could buy last time I bought coolant.
>
> Assuming his mechanic isn't a total moron, that's probably what was used.

I hope so, but I've been buying the old, green stuff still, so at
least in my area it is still available. I figured it was worth
mentioning the possibility. I haven't a clue what yellow/orange
coolant Ford was using in '01, either, but I assume it is some sort of
OAT-based coolant.

nate

>Mechanic said it just needed to be burped.

It's possible your mechanic didn't get all the air out of the cooling
system when he "burped" it. My 2.5 Dakota acts the same way if I don't
get all the air out.
Good Luck

On Mar 6, 3:30 pm, "bkviking" > wrote:

> but then head up again. My issues: water pump looked busted, but
> obviously wasn't affecting system beforehand--or did a coolant flush
> bust a fan (I dont think so). I notice the fan on when it shouldn't be

AFAICR there is a known issue with the water pump up to and including
2002 model year where the impeller is GUARANTEED to break if engine
rpms go over [some value]. Maybe your friendly mechanic over-revved
the engine after doing the coolant flush, and broke the pump.

I'm learning a lot more on these groups than I would otherwise, and
being I'm increasingly aggravated with lack of progress with my car
maybe it's productive to be armed when I speak with mechanic for 8th
time in 2 weeks. I deal with Focus tomorrow, since the past 2 weeks my
car's been in the shop a total of 7 days, and I was just laid off, and
I haven't conjured up how much more I can pay. (The mechanic sold me a
bottle of moonshine for $20, and sensing it's overpriced, perhaps I
should've known what I was getting in to.) Long Island + jobless + no
car=big time trouble! Thanks guys, I'll post worthwhile (or not)
results from mechanic.

"bkviking" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> My Focus has 90K miles and has been maintained and operated well for
> 5+ years. Brought it to mechanic several weeks ago for tune-up, tires,
> and coolant change. It was my first coolant change, and the coolant
> was the yellow/orange stuff. Mechanic flushed and replaced coolant
> with green stuff. After about 30 minutes of driving, temp gauge moved
> 3/4 mark--first time it ever moved past middle. Mechanic said it just
> needed to be burped. Picked it up, same problem not resolved. Return
> to mechanic, and he said water pump impeller had split apart (and
> showed me it broken). While at it, he changed thermostat. Once again,
> i drive car, and the little movement on the temp gauge starts after 30
> minutes or so. I called him back and said I am still not resolved. He
> said he will look into temp gauge issues, and that he ruled out head
> gasket, and fans came on at proper temp. Now I'm $1500 down the drain
> and have a problem eerily cooincident with having fluid changed. I
> trust my mechanic. But obviously I'm interested in not running up
> another $1000. The temp gauge generally moves to 3/4 or 2/3 over at
> 50-60mph. Above 60, it starts nearing 8/10 over. It also occurs at
> idle after coming off a highway. I notice what seems to be the air
> condition fan on-=something i never noticed outside of summer. When it
> clicked off at a light, the temp swung down, which i thought was
> strange. It also will cool down to middle range with normal driving,
> but then head up again. My issues: water pump looked busted, but
> obviously wasn't affecting system beforehand--or did a coolant flush
> bust a fan (I dont think so). I notice the fan on when it shouldn't be
> on--or hasn't been on before, except during summer with air
> conditioner on. Is that an issue? Car is hot with the higher speeds
> above 60, but best right after taking off from idle up to 40, where it
> tends to not get hotter than 2/3 mark before returning to middle. Any
> help or direction would be most appreciated
>

I don't know how your mechanic flushed the system but I would ask if
he pressure flushed it or put in a flush chemical. It sounds to me like
a bunch of sediment that was lying quietly in the body cavities of the block
has been disturbed and has now migrated to the radiator and plugged it
up.

5 years is a long time on the factory fill. Particularly if you have
periodically
added water over the years. The corrosion inhibitors are about gone after 3
years.

If you are handy with tools you might be able to take a garden hose and a
lot
of time and blast water out of the hose through the block through as many
coolant orifices as you can, (you will have to disconnect hoses to do this)
as well as forwards and backwards through the radiator. A shop cannot
do this due to EPA regulations about coolant recovery, this is one area
where a home coolant flush is superior. Us DIYers can drain most of the
coolant then dump 50 gallons of water from the hose through the system
until it runs clean.

These stories are why I never use chemical flush in coolant. Years ago I
chemical flushed a Ford 302 (I still have the car) and ended up replacing
the
head gasket (mainly because the gasket was really, really old) and when I
pulled out the old gasket I noticed a lot of the coolant metering holes were
plugged.

Ted

In article . com>,
bkviking > wrote:
>thanks nate.. pretty much through research and advice from folks like
>yourself that's what i've been thinking. The MOMENT the car started
>getting hot, i called the mechanic and questioned WHY he put in the
>different coolant and he told me "it's just a color and doesnt
>matter." Well, in the case you just brought up, it does matter, and
>that's what I've begun to suspect. I'll post when i get a response.

It does matter, but there are some good reasons to go back to the generic
green stuff. I have known many folks with the GM Dexcool have all sorts of
odd sludging problems which were cured by competely cleaning the system out
and going back to the green stuff.

I don't think there's any _problem_ necessarily with running the green stuff
in the Ford, but if you do that you need to make sure the system is completely
purged or it will form slime. And I would make absolutely sure there aren't
any metal compatibility issues first.`
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."