Cold Engine

[Guest ron bell]

CAN ANYONE HELP ME OUT I HAVE BROUGTH A 1.9TDI GHIA 51 PLATE THE ENGINE SEAMS TO TAKE FOR AGES TO WARM UP AND IF I PUT THE HEATER ON BEFORE IT HAS WARMED UP THE NEEDLE STARTS TO DROP TO COLD AGAIN. I'VE GOT IT BOOKED IN FOR A SERVICE ON WEDNESDAY BUT I DON'T WANT TO CAUSE ANY DAMAGE IF IT IS A SERIOUS PROBLEM IT HAS 69,000 MILES ON THE CLOCK WITH FULL HISTORY ANY IDEAS

[chromedome]

Do a search for thermostat and auxilliary heater, they've both been covered in detail before.

[smoggy7]

hi ron, had the same problem mate my car takes ages to warm up from cold i am having a new aux heater fitted after me mams funeral it was booked in for wednesday just gone and me mum died on the tuesday so cancelled it until next week, if your car is still under warranty get them to pay out for it like i did i had a cheque not long after phoning them for the work to be carried out by fords, the aux heater is supposed to come on from start up to help the cars coolant system to warm up quicker as someone just said do a search on it loads on here all the best

 

 

 

 

 

smoggy

[Guest ron bell]

I do have 5 star warranty cover so everything is coverd i think it might be losing water aswell

[Guest jaseNEWBUYER]

:D its all fine yer walter!!!!!!!!!!!

takes a bit t warm thats normal...............i dunt switch cc on till cars up to temp............half way on gauage.

really dunt worry shes fine mines an 2003 wi 57k on clock ..........so long as shes serviced every 10k nd cam belt 40k....80k...etc shes fine........check cc(air con hot/cold).......nd watch for leaks on front passenger well nd rear o/s well,which causers low or even no pressure on rear screen washer......this is a simple common fault wen the hosers split/pop out.......just giv a shuv bak tgether if needed nd superglue. part from that happy travels bud!!!!!!!! :(

[johnb80]

RON, do you hear a jet turbine type sound near the rear n/s wheelarch (outside) ? If not the Aux heater isn't working. Mine has just been sorted, when it was working less than 2 miles the car was almost at 90 deg without it 20 miles plus. You really need this working, if you have a warranty keep on at them until it's done, it makes a massive difference.

 

Regards - John

[dave_m]

if you are losing water, could be the water pump my car had the same problem heaters were doing all sorts of weird stuff hot then cold, red-hot, always cold, and i was losing water, this was at 62k get this checked as the cylinder heads aren't very resilient to overheating hence i had to have a new head.

 

may just be your aux heater but best be on the safe side. Also ford missed the fact the water pump was not working when they done the 60k service even though i pointed out that it lost a bit of water a couple of times.

[Scorpiorefugee]

Just a thought or two on this as I've been putting up with this sort of problem with mine for a while and Just sorted it.

 

The short answer in my case was the 'engine coolant temperature sender'.

 

This ######## thing is in fact two sensors in one.

 

One sends information to the displayed temperature gauge which was in my case behaving normally.

 

The other sends information to the clever bits that do the business. In my case, this was telling the ECU that the engine was overheating - result, here's a list!

 

Engine took ages to warm up - no suprise. :P

 

Engine took ages to start - ECU assumed glow plugs not needed! :huh:

 

Cooling fan always came on after switching off. It had always done this and I assumed it was a feature. :D

 

The auxilliary heater never did a lot. :P

 

Fuel consumption was fantastic! :P

 

No B$$$$$$y wonder I took ages to get around to changing it as the gauge was telling me that all was well - which it was. It was was the hidden bit that was telling lies. :huh:

 

I've yet to discover what the overall consumption is but it now blows warmish air after a couple of miles and is cosy after 3.

 

Cost - about 20 quid and some mucky fingernails.

[Guest ron bell]

the car does not overheat even when i'm sitting on they M25 for about an hour every morning and i do hear a humming noise when i switch the engine of. when i checked the water it was on the min line but when i undone the lid it shot up to the max line and has stayed there but still taking time to warm up i've check the oil and normal colour could there of been an air lock of something like that. its booked in with ford on wednesday and i wanna make sure they sort the problem out so i don't have to keep going back to them. cheers for all your help

[chromedome]

The humming noise is probably the auxilliary water pump that runs for a few minutes when you switch. At least that bit's ok :huh:

 

You should here a noise like a jet engine winding down, that's the aux heater.

 

I could be the aux heater or thermostat or a combination of both.

 

If Ford suspect the aux heater they will probably try a get you to pay for a new one, expensive. Try and pursuade them to try the glow plug first, a much cheaper option.

 

Good luck.

[Scorpiorefugee]

I perhaps was a little long winded with my post but it might be worth disconnecting the tempreature sender and running it from cold. Thats what I did (eventually) and it immediately started to warm up quicker.

 

It's not the easiest thing to get to as it's hidden behind an assortment of gubbinry on the water feed to the head at the gearbox end.

 

Your temperature gauge will stop working and your glow plug light will stay on for a while longer but it doesn't seem to do any harm. I ran mine for 700 odd miled while waiting for a replacement. The aux heater should be on permanently in this weather while it's disconnected.

 

Ron.