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Engine overheating?

Tiny
STEWART BRITTS
  • MEMBER
  • 2011 FORD FOCUS
  • 2.0L
  • 4 CYL
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 182,000 MILES
It's been getting really hot lately and I was stopped in traffic yesterday when I look down at the temperature gauge and it's at 3/4 on the gauge and still moving toward the red, fortunately I was stopped beside a gas station so I pulled in and immediately turned the engine off and let it cool for 30 minutes or so, while I was waiting I checked the coolant reservoir and it was full so after 30 minutes I started the car and was able to make it home, once I got home I let it cool and bled the cooling system of air and fortunately there were no air bubbles. The next day it overheated again so I thought maybe I have some kind of clog in the radiator so I decided to have my cooling system flushed, while I was having it done the guy under my car came out holding a bag and said he found it between my cooling fan and radiator problem is now I don't think my cooling fan is working and the car is still overheating, I used forscan and using the pid's commanded the fan to turn on in both low speed and high speed but nothing happened the fan didn't turn, i'm kind of at a loss on what to do next or what kind of tests to do next any help would be greatly appreciated.
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Wednesday, June 19th, 2024 AT 10:52 AM

7 Replies

Tiny
TY ANDERSON
  • MECHANIC
  • 719 POSTS
It's possible with the cooling fans being stuck that this has caused parts to fail.
You'll need to do some electrical checks on the cooling fan. The fan has a 3-wire connector. The brown wire is power feed when the low-speed fan is commanded on. You should hear a click sound from the relay/fuse box under the hood when commanding the low-speed fan on.
The green/white wire is the power feed for the high-speed fan.
The black and violet wire is the ground wire. If you have power at these 2 wires and a ground, then the fault is the cooling fans themselves.
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Wednesday, June 19th, 2024 AT 3:14 PM
Tiny
STEWART BRITTS
  • MEMBER
  • 7 POSTS
Thank you so much for your help, I'll test the relays and the fan motor tomorrow and let you know how it goes.
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Wednesday, June 19th, 2024 AT 4:07 PM
Tiny
STEWART BRITTS
  • MEMBER
  • 7 POSTS
I just tried to turn on the cooling fan in low speed and high speed modes with Forscan while I listened for the relays to click, there were no clicks from the relays and the fan never turned on.
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Thursday, June 20th, 2024 AT 9:19 AM
Tiny
STEWART BRITTS
  • MEMBER
  • 7 POSTS
I just ran wires to the cooling fan motor and hooked it up to the battery and the fan motor worked, it was turning.
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Thursday, June 20th, 2024 AT 9:48 AM
Tiny
TY ANDERSON
  • MECHANIC
  • 719 POSTS
That's good that the cooling fan is working. No, we need to check the ground side of the cooling fan which is the black and violet tracer wire to the cooling fan. If you have a test light attach it to the positive side of the battery and with the cooling fan connector disconnected your test light should light. Touch the test light to the batter ground terminal to make sure the test light works then if it does touch the test light to the black /violet wire terminal and you should see it light.

Next check Fuse 14 (10A), Fuse 16 (20A) and Fuse 17 (30A) Make sure these are all intact and not blown. These are all located in the fuse box under the hood on the left rear side of the engine compartment.
If all good, then check the relays to see that they are functioning. You can swap them around with matching relays to see if anything changes.
If relays are good, then there is a wiring issue or (less likely) the PCM (engine computer) has failed.
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Thursday, June 20th, 2024 AT 12:31 PM
Tiny
STEWART BRITTS
  • MEMBER
  • 7 POSTS
I checked the black/violet ground wire with a test probe, and it did light up, so then I checked fuses 14, 16 and 17. Fuse 17 ended up being bad so when I replaced it, I hooked up Forscan and watched as the car reached normal temp. It didn't turn on when it showed the low speed fan turning on but the high-speed fan did come on so now the high-speed fan works but the low speed doesn't.
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Friday, June 21st, 2024 AT 1:52 PM
Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
  • 48,414 POSTS
Can I ask if you turn the A/C system on if the fans run? Also on your scanner what is the engine temperature? You could have a engine coolant sensor that needs to be replaced, here is the complete radiator cooling fan wiring diagrams so you can see who the system works. With the low speed fan on please check the grn/wht wire for power, if it has power then let's check for ground on the blk/vio wire and the cooling fan is not working the fan module is bad.

This guide can help:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-use-a-test-light-circuit-tester

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Monday, June 24th, 2024 AT 10:03 AM

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