1998 Ford Taurus

RECRUIT87

MEMBER
1998 FORD TAURUS
6 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
135,000 MILES

I have a 98 Ford Taurus with 135,000 and suprisingly it runs well. Due to the car not seeming to warm up in a reasonable amount of time (several minutes of warm up, and 3 or 4 miles of driving at highway speeds before the gauge comes up) I replaced the thermostat. Once this was done and I started the car to check for leaks and I noticed the engine fans came on when the heater fan was turn on inside the passenger compartment. As soon as the interior fan is turned off the cooling fans shut down within 30 seconds. This happens whether it is turned to A/C or any of the other settings, and now I am now wondering if this is the reason for the long amount of time for the car to come up to temperature, and if so what would cause this or is it the way the car is suppose to operate. Thanks in advance for the help.

1 Reply

ZACKMAN

MECHANIC
4,202 POSTS

If your thermostat is "stuck" on open position, you will have coolant flow all the time. The coolant doesn't get enough time in the engine block to warm up, let alone trying to heat up the passenger compartment.

Once replaced, (I am under the impression that you noticed the fans turning at idle), the thermostat was at closed position until the coolant warmed up in the engine block. When you turn the blower motor on, the blending door opened to let the coolant get into the heater core. By this time, your coolant temp sensor registered high coolant temp and signaled the fans to turn on (which is normal).

That is how your vehicle should operate.