overheated...

[Mr.Moontang]

Last night on the way home on the expressway we were cruising along with the air on doing about 70 MPH, and I noticed that the air wasn't blowing cold anymore so I thought it might have froze up on me since I like it to snow in the car. So we were getting off the highway anyway so we just turned it off and put the windows down for the rest of the drive home, then I noticed the temp guage was starting to creep up! Tuned on the heat and it fell back down to normal, got home and parked the car and when I shut it off it boiled over! I'm thinking the electric water pump quit....any ideas?

[Rustanggt98]

could be the fan quit working. if the water pump quit working completely i would think you wouldn't have made it home before it boiled over. if the fan quit working, the highway would have provided enough air to cool what was in the radiator, and turning the heat on would help even more. once you turned off the highway you were moving much slower and once you got close to home (street, driveway) there would have been no air cooling. i would check the fan and make sure it is working properly, and manually power the water pump just to make sure it is also working.

[rtvickers]

I think mine is doing the same thing. Ive had my air on and it goes hot. Never really thought to look at the temp gauge. But this morning it boiled over at some point. I just tried to leave and the gauge was pegged. Not good. Im gonna check my fan.

[rtvickers]

Just started the car and fan kicked on. I dont wanna hijack your thread. Ill start another one. Good luck.

[Blackout]

What yearis your car? I'd it's a 96-98 three are 2 sensors that set in the front of the intake. One of the sensors turns on the fan and the other is for the instruments. Ford redid everything later with one sensor. When you kick on the A/C the high speed fan should kick on. I need to look up which one to be sure but I believe its the one on the drivers side. Hope I helped.

[Mr.Moontang]

Mine is a 2001.

[Dirtyd0g]

What are you running for coolant and how long has it been since you changed it. I agree it sounds like the electric water pump is going out or gone but if the gauge was normal and it boiled over you have a bad sensor or something else going on. Normal operating temp shoudl be nowhere near boiling over on a proper coolant mix, straight water boils at much lower temp.
Alan

[Blackout]

Im sorry, I missed the electric water pump. The single temp sensor tells the computer to turn the fan on at a certain temp.

[Mr.Moontang]

Alan, I'm running plain old green antifreeze and water with some purple ice. The gauge went hot after a stopped moving and then it boiled over.

[Stangman]

Car has sat for a wwhile... mayve thermostat stuck... sorry... pwi... loolll

[untame]

I had a similar experience a few years ago. The relay for the water pump melted! Was at Milford cruise in.
Had to get home to Kentucky. On the interstate it stayed cool enough to get home. I live about a mile off of the interstate and it was puking when I got home. Could be the same issue. Strange as it was a 40 amp relay. The insulation on the wires had got so hot that flexing the wire by the relay cracked the insulation.

[Mr.Moontang]

You may be right Jesse, but I've driven about 150 miles before it happened.