She over heated ... advise please

[mamabird]

I was driving her home from work and was going through some traffic like usual... then about several exits into the drive the temp light came on and beeped at me then the ck engine light came on then it puttered like a over heated car does. I know about the over heating from my mustang...it had underdrive pullys on it and some times it would try and over heat in the Texas hotness and traffic. However my T-bird is stock traffic wasnt heavy and the weather is cool. I pulled over and within a matter of a few minutes she was cooled off so I drived her to the Ford house. He said the coolant was a little low but not majorly low and he said it was a little cloudy so he said it will probably need a flush. Please help... does this happen often to these cars? I dont have a warranty and Im afraid of what they may find.

[redbirdsal]

Re: She over heated ... advise please

Read this thread Jennifer.

http://www.thunderbirdnest.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18159&highlight=overheated

[texasbird]

Re: She over heated ... advise please

Jennifer,

I haven't experienced this on the T-Bird yet, but, if there's not a leak causing a significant loss of coolant, the next problem that sometimes contributes to overheating is a thermostat that isn't opening properly, once the engine reaches running temp. The thermostat staying closed restricts coolant flow through the engine. If a stock thermostat fails, it usually fails in the "closed" position.

There's only one brand of thermostat that I'm aware of that advertises it will only fail in the open position, meaning if it fails, it will only allow maximum coolant flow, which would prevent the overheating issue. This may be something to consider, if the thermostat is the culprit in your problem.

James

[redbirdsal]

Re: She over heated ... advise please

Jennifer, how many miles does your Bird have? That's just curiousity... I didn't see it in your posts. You probably don't need a radiator flush, though. See if that little trick about adding a little fluid while the engine is running fixes your problem.

As for not having a warranty yet, ask your Dealer if you're purchase is covered for a certain amount of time. You've only had it three weeks.

There is mention of a throttle sensor replacement in another thread.

In the Navigation Bar at the top of each page you will see the "Search" button. Click on that, and enter "overheated". Then just read through the threads. This will work on almost any topic you are interested in.

[mamabird]

Re: She over heated ... advise please

thank you guys for responding... i posted this using my phone so i was limited on my search capabilities to research through other threads. Needless to say I was a nervous reck and helpless on the side of the road. My service advisor seemed puzzled at what happened, but I left a message on his cell to call me so I can toss some of these ideas his way so he wont be at this blindfolded.

much love for this group

~Jennifer

[mamabird]

Re: She over heated ... advise please

she has approx 44k. Serviced advisor suggested the flush because it looks a little corroded (thats spelled wrong im sure). i would be in agreement with him... I dont want anything that is going to cause more problems

[MATBird]

Re: She over heated ... advise please

Jen:
Here's a thread you should look at....particularly Dot's post number 5:
http://www.thunderbirdnest.com/forum...radiator+fluid

[mamabird]

Re: She over heated ... advise please

ok called the service advisor this morning and gave him some input from what I heard from you guys and he said that he never heard of the problem with it needing to be burbed unless somebody has changed the fluid recently... I just dont think he liked the fact that I was giving him input... LOL!! He said the check engine light is one and should give the computer a code to look up. So I guess all I can do it sit and wait and hope I don't have to sell my husband on the street to pay for it HA!

[5bird7]

Re: She over heated ... advise please

Several have noted at Desert Thunder II that this typically seems to occur when you turn off the air conditioning and run without it. Seems to happen within a few days of doing that.

We've only had the 05 exhibit the overheating condition you described and only once and that was a couple of years ago. Dealership couldn't find anything wrong even with all the codes that were set and they felt that it was just a bubble in the system but no clue as to why as there had been no fluid changes. I don't remember if we were using the air or not at the time.
We were still under basic warranty at the time but the only charge would have been the diagnostic that they had to run

[leisha]

Re: She over heated ... advise please

MY 2000 LS did this a couple of times then I had the thermostat chaged, OK after that!

[mamabird]

Re: She over heated ... advise please

ok here is the latest...

Ser Adv called and said it came up with overheat codes. So, he said that the thermostat is stuck closed and he said that its difficult to change and he said that he wants to flush out the fluid because its pretty nasty inside (which I agree-I saw it, ewww) So, this little trip to the shop is going to cost me some bucks... so if you see me on the side of the road holding a sign saying - needing money to "mend my bird" that is me. Thank you guys for all of your help...

[007Cruiser]

Re: She over heated ... advise please

You've gotta love these modern cars. Back in the day changing a thermostat was easy as pie. Good luck with the repair. Let us know if you need to be bailed out.

[mamabird]

Re: She over heated ... advise please

I know... with my Mustang I was able to change the radiator, belts, brakes, clutch, oil, alternator, plugs, blah blah blah... I look under the hood of my Bird and I just scratch my head and don't even know where to start. I had question marks above my head when he was checking the coolant; I had NO CLUE it was up there. I have A LOT to learn and so happy I can learn from TBN.

[prbre]

Re: She over heated ... advise please

I had all of my fluids change about 2 months ago and I mean all but trans.

[farmbird]

Re: She over heated ... advise please

Jennifer:
The coolant flush won't correct the overheating condition so, hold off on it until you know it's not overheating anymore. If it turns out to be something major, you will loose all of the new coolant and have to replace it again. The way they flush the systems today, there won't be any overlap of time.
Gene