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Overheating but engine & radiator not hot


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2013 170,000 mi. 4 cyl. First I blew lower radiator hose at TEE and drained coolant while climbing grade with AC on. Towed to dealer. New lower & upper hose with coolant. NOT Thermostat. Then there was a noise when AC compressor turned on. That turned out to be a misaligned water pump pulley. Replaced pump, tensioner and belt. All work by dealer. Then ran ok up grade but when parked, idling and AC on, heated up to red mark on gauge. Drove several hundred feet and cooled down.  Tried to repeat issue. After stopping a couple times it did it again. Cools down quickly with low speed drive or revving engine and HVAC turned to red/heat. Had Ford mechanic ride with his laptop. Ran fine up hill until parked it idling with AC on and quick heat up. Cooled down just driving 15-20mph to freeway. On way back to dealer at 70 mph downhill running cool with AC on, it goes back up to hot. Laptop said 253 Deg. F. Fans operating correctly whole time. Stayed hot. Pulled over. Shut it down to open hood. Reservoir 98% full burping air. Engine barely warm and you could put your fingers on radiator fins and barely warm. Cool air out of HVAC when turned to Red/Heat. After a bit Hot air finally came out of vents and gauge went to halfway. Dealer replaced thermostat and temp sensor. Still gets hot when idling st a stop light or parking spot. $1,700 later. They “think” coolant “gelled” and now They want to “throw” a new radiator and heater core for $2600 at it to see if that fixes it. Any suggestions? I want to hook up a garden hose up to radiator and heater core. See if either is restricted. I’ve heard of second thermostat by oil filter, seperate valve at thermostat and a CHT valve. Also I saw a “coolant bypass valve”. Any of those things gonna give me these bizarre symptoms?

Thank you in advance for any help. 

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My first thought is something is not right when radiator not heating up but car too hot, seems like lack of flow to me.  IMO dealership doesn't know as much as I do :-0 I have always used the heater as an emergency heat dump when my car overheated - LOL my daughter still talks about driving her Volvo (or SAAB) to college with the heater going!  I did have a SAAB (different one) - flushed it and replaced coolant but ran hot, replaced radiator and that fixed it.  Seemed like something had built up inside the radiator which caused it to not work as well.  New radiator put everything right.  Im still stuck on the part where the mechanic could read 253F and yet you could touch the radiator.  How about the upper radiator hose?  When they refilled the engine and radiator after replacing hoses and water pump did they bleed the system?  I'm not familiar with the 2.5 engine but some are difficult to get air bubbles out of.  My motorcycle is notorious for that and it has to be vacuum filled.  It overheated at the end of a 5,500 mile trip.  Took to dealer who said it had an air pocket at the top of the radiator and the engine was filled with water.  It was fixed but I'm still trying to figure that one out - only one place has ever worked on that bike.    In case you haven't figured it out I don't trust dealerships.

 

EDIT:  Rereading your post, when you say after a bit heat came out of heater.  I think they have a valve which blocks flow thru it until heat is requested so it was probably full of cold antifreeze (or air if they didn't cycle valve during filling.

Edited by PhotoAl
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You say the thermostat has not been replaced.  If so you should replace it. This thermostat has a bypass valve and if it does not work the water flow will never get to the radiator .

 

thermostat and housing 2014.png

Edited by G B L
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Thank you photoAl & GBL for your replies. I know it’s a long post. I appreciate you reading it. GBL, the dealer did replace the thermostat and temp sensor. Right before I mention $1,700 spent so far. Any truth to coolant bypass valve or second thermostat by oil filter? I read that in some posts on the forum. I try to research as best I can before I ask questions. I might’ve been reading a post on non-Connect threads. 

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17 hours ago, Aqua Kelly said:

Any truth to coolant bypass valve or second thermostat by oil filter?

 

that is where the thermostat on this engine is , The upper hose does not have the Thermostat.

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So the coolant bypass valve is a part of the thermostat that the dealer replaced, correct? My original problem was a blown apart lower radiator hose at the TEE. Does that sound like an over pressurization condition in cooling system blew it apart or does that hose have a red flag from Ford? 

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If the  thermostat was changed the by pass was also changed. Before going too much further a combustion leak test will tell if you have a pressure prob in the engine.  Make sure the proper bleed procedure has eliminated all the air in the cooling system. 

Combustion leak tester.png

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