Reading hot while driving temp goes down at idle

[hucklebuckin]

Wife calls me today says the explorer has a hight Temp alarm. She looked at the Guage and it was pegged. She said the ac shut off when the alarm went off. She emediatly pulled over ant the temp dropped and ac starts back up at idle. Starts back down the road and temp goes back up. Pulls over and temp regulated. Ecoboost I4. Any ideas?

 

[Explorer75]

Truck's year?
Check the basics, coolant level, correct cooling fan function. Check oil in the dipstick if it'normal or milk shake color.
Check accesories belt tension
Any stored code.

 

[mguy13sport]

Sound like air in the coolant system. something you want to check asap.

 

[peterk9]

Truck's year?
Check the basics, coolant level, correct cooling fan function. Check oil in the dipstick if it'normal or milk shake color.
Check accesories belt tension
Any stored code.

It's a 2016 XLT. Info is the margin.

Peter

 

[Explorer75]

It's a 2016 XLT. Info is the margin.

Peter

Thanks Peter, last night I was replying from my cel and with chrome it doesn´t show that info.

 

[peterk9]

Wife calls me today says the explorer has a hight Temp alarm. She looked at the Guage and it was pegged. She said the ac shut off when the alarm went off. She emediatly pulled over ant the temp dropped and ac starts back up at idle. Starts back down the road and temp goes back up. Pulls over and temp regulated. Ecoboost I4. Any ideas?

Usually, if the engine overheats it will go into Fail-Safe Cooling mode which will shut down various features. Have you checked the coolant level? Also, check the dipstick for possible signs of coolant contamination which may indicate a failed water pump.

Peter

 

[peterk9]

Thanks Peter, last night I was replying from my cel and with chrome it doesn´t show that info.

It will if you turn the phone horizontally (landscape).

 

[Explorer75]

It will if you turn the phone horizontally (landscape).

JAJA nice one! Thanks

 

[Explorer75]

Usually, if the engine overheats it will go into Fail-Safe Cooling mode which will shut down various features. Have you checked the coolant level? Also, check the dipstick for possible signs of coolant contamination which may indicate a failed water pump.

Peter

I was thinking more of a bad head gasket (I hope not, really), I believe the water pump in the 2.3 is a normal, external one belt driven. Not like the 3.5 and 3.7.

 

[hucklebuckin]

No signs of water or coolant I. The oil. Coolant level is fine. Checked this morning.

 

[peterk9]

I was thinking more of a bad head gasket (I hope not, really), I believe the water pump in the 2.3 is a normal, external one belt driven. Not like the 3.5 and 3.7.

That is correct but isn't the 2016 available in both engine sizes?

 

[Explorer75]

That is correct but isn't the 2016 available in both engine sizes?

Yes but in his first post he states is an Ecoboost I4

 

[peterk9]

Yes but in his first post he states is an Ecoboost I4

 

[PowerHogHP]

The 2.3 should have active grille shutters - make sure they are opening fully and that both cooling fans operate low/high speed. Your vehicle may also have the customer satisfaction program for failing high fan relay 21N01.

 

[hucklebuckin]

Ok, so I drove it about 40 miles today with a mixture of interstate and in town. No high temp until on the way home I turned on max ac and the temp started climbing. Turned off max ac after temp was about 85% up. Minute I turned the max ac off the temp started to lower and went to normal level. Repeated with max ac multiple times. That seems to be the only time temp goes up past normal.

 

[peterk9]

I don't know if this may help.

why does my engine temperature go up when I turn max a/c on - Google Search

Peter

 

[Odrapnew]

Ok, so I drove it about 40 miles today with a mixture of interstate and in town. No high temp until on the way home I turned on max ac and the temp started climbing. Turned off max ac after temp was about 85% up. Minute I turned the max ac off the temp started to lower and went to normal level. Repeated with max ac multiple times. That seems to be the only time temp goes up past normal.

Does it start climbing immediately as in you can see the gauge start rising once max A/C is on, or does it take a bit of time (few minutes)?
And then does it drop immediately when you turn it off?

Also, does it do it with regular A/C?

The system works the same with regular or max, the only difference is that it recirculates in max mode vs. fresh air.

 

[hucklebuckin]

It takes a few minutes to start climbing. It starts dropping immediatly after turning to regular ac.

 

[Odrapnew]

Unless I'm mistaken, the A/C pump runs the same whether it's normal or max A/C. Maybe it's different on newer vehicles.

Just for my clarification, when you say it starts dropping immediately, do you mean you can see the gauge start to move down once you turn off max A/C?

What does the HVAC fan do when you switch to/from max A/C? Is the fan on full blast when max is selected?

Just to let you know why I'm asking these questions is to determine if it's really overheating or if it's a gauge issue.
I had a car that had a poor ground and every time the electrical load went up (headlights and fan), the gauges went up. I thought I had an overheating issue when it was just a gauge (well, loose ground) issue.