au3 auto overheating

08-01-2006, 10:14 PM

: Would appreciate some advice on this subject,
leaving Tamworth climbing the Mountain Range Towing 16ft Caravan weight probably around 1600 kg temp guage went into red untill I slowed considerably then came back to normal. I have not fitted a transmission cooler as I read somewhere that they did not require them . Might mention outside temp was 35
Thanks Allan

HLC · 08-01-2006, 10:24 PM

dumb question, but did you check your coolant levels before you left?

FTGAutosalvage · 08-01-2006, 10:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by driverbak

: Would appreciate some advice on this subject,
leaving Tamworth climbing the Mountain Range Towing 16ft Caravan weight probably around 1600 kg temp guage went into red untill I slowed considerably then came back to normal. I have not fitted a transmission cooler as I read somewhere that they did not require them . Might mention outside temp was 35
Thanks Allan

that is a ripper of a hill coming out of Tamworth , most cars overheat going up there without a van on the back .
i would put a trans cooler on anything towing a heavy van or boat , its just a bit of added insurance.

JC · 09-01-2006, 12:33 AM

Yep - put a trans cooler on, but make sure you by-pass the radiator when fiting it. The brass core used for the trans oil lines in the radiators breaks down over time and will eventually block the lines altogether. By by-passing the in-radiator lines, you are eliminating one potential cause of cooking the transmission. The air flow through the cooler will be enough to keep the tranny cool, and in traffic, the thermos will come on to cool the engine way before the trans even thinks about overheating - the thermos will then push/pull cool air through the trans oil cooler as well.

A quick way to get the temp down when it starts climbing past the R or M on the gauge is to turn A/C off, wind your windows down and turn the heater to the "Hot" setting and the fan on full. It helps draw heat out of the motor - not comfortable on a 35 degree day, but it will help keep the engine temp down, and as soon as you get to a flat stretch of road, turn the dial to cold and whack the A/C back on full.

autickfordfairmont · 09-01-2006, 01:42 PM

In regards to overheating, AU's Cant Cook can they???? I read somewhere in the owners manual or somewhere that you can't cook them as they start shutting down cylinders when it gets to hot, so as to ensure no damage to the motor. Is this true???

Also my car runs at a constant 92deg according to the diagnostics mode in the Climate Control. It never shows any higher, my guess is that it does infact get hotter, just doesnt show it right??

I use to live in Tamworth and the Moombi Ranges is a very nice climb, had some good runs against people up there.

JC · 09-01-2006, 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by autickfordfairmont

In regards to overheating, AU's Cant Cook can they???? I read somewhere in the owners manual or somewhere that you can't cook them as they start shutting down cylinders when it gets to hot, so as to ensure no damage to the motor. Is this true???

Also my car runs at a constant 92deg according to the diagnostics mode in the Climate Control. It never shows any higher, my guess is that it does infact get hotter, just doesnt show it right??

I use to live in Tamworth and the Moombi Ranges is a very nice climb, had some good runs against people up there.

The 6's certainly have "failsafe cooling", whatever that means - and yes, it does shut down cylinders if it starts to overheat badly. But imagine it doing that while you were towing a 1600 kg anything up a hill - it would only making the overheating worse. And I'm sure it would do some damage to the motor.

Casper · 09-01-2006, 03:10 PM

AU's can cook.
The failsafe is designed for loosing coolant in the radiator. With no coolant the failsafe kicks in to keep each cylender cool by shutting them down independantly. This actually uses unburnt fuel to further cool by evaporation. Unfortnatly if the coolent in the car is still there and overheats the coolent itself is too hot and the failsafe cant cool it down enough. So yes it has a failsafe but, in some conditions, with coolent flowing and being too hot, it will cook.

autickfordfairmont · 09-01-2006, 03:44 PM

right makes sense. so what about the 92deg thing, is it just that it cant show any higher in the Daignostics mode??? Cause there no way that it could maintain 92deg perfectly.

Casper · 09-01-2006, 03:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by autickfordfairmont

right makes sense. so what about the 92deg thing, is it just that it cant show any higher in the Daignostics mode??? Cause there no way that it could maintain 92deg perfectly.

thats just cost cutting on Fords behalf. The AU1 has a "real" temp and oil pressure guage.

Fords excuse... they didnt want people to worry when they say the temp moving up and down during normal driving. Most people prefer to see it nice and still... what a load of rubbish.

mik · 09-01-2006, 11:15 PM

one other thing to help stop it heating up so much, if its labouring going up the the hill drop it down a cog so its not working so hard.

JC · 10-01-2006, 12:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mik

one other thing to help stop it heating up so much, if its labouring going up the the hill drop it down a cog so its not working so hard.

That's fine if you're not towing a heavy load. When towing, he was probably akready in second with the engine screaming, which is what contributes to overheating. It's a fine balance between too few revs and too many causing overheating - both mean the engine is working harder than it needs to.

mik · 10-01-2006, 12:31 AM

yep dead right

autickfordfairmont · 10-01-2006, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JC

A quick way to get the temp down when it starts climbing past the R or M on the gauge is to turn A/C off, wind your windows down and turn the heater to the "Hot" setting and the fan on full. It helps draw heat out of the motor - not comfortable on a 35 degree day, but it will help keep the engine temp down, and as soon as you get to a flat stretch of road, turn the dial to cold and whack the A/C back on full.

Doesnt work in a Fairmont or Ghia, TS50, LTD etc. Anything with climate control, we can only select a Temp, if the cabin temp is already hot, and you turn it to its hottest setting (32deg) then it still blows cold air to try to get it down to or keep it at or near 32deg.

It will only work in Non Climate control vehicles where you can select a heat setting, like in the Forte.

10-01-2006, 09:30 PM

My thanks to all who offered advice and suggestions, I did check the coolant before the event and after with no loss. I will have a tranny cooler fitted .

allan :voldar02:

**Mechan1k** · 12-01-2006, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Casper

thats just cost cutting on Fords behalf. The AU1 has a "real" temp and oil pressure guage.

Fords excuse... they didnt want people to worry when they say the temp moving up and down during normal driving. Most people prefer to see it nice and still... what a load of rubbish.

I'd rather see my gauge go up and down ... just to let me know.
I know in diagnostic mode on mine it stops dead at 94 deg ... but the needle climbs a fraction more after it hits that magical barrier and stops on the righthand side of the "O".

One thing I like about the Territory is that the temp gauge does fluctuate while driving I have noticed ... but always stays under halfway (has gotten close to dead on halfway on hot days and spirited/hilly driving).

One way to fix this is get an aftermarket gauge fitted to the AU to see what it really is doing.

I know I will be putting an aftermarket oil pressure (and Volt) gauge(s) on the ute (doesn't come with one standard) ... just for piece of mind.

clontarf_x · 12-01-2006, 09:31 PM

Is there any way to remove the sender/guage on AU2/3 and replace with an AU1, or is it an entire cluster jobby?