Cold temps, not get up to operating temp?

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Down to 10, 11 degrees tonight. Noticed this with both the expedition, and my focus (driv eon the highway for ~25 miles) neither gets up to coolant NOT. These were taken after a decent highway drive at 75mph. Normal temp is directly halfway. Is this normal, and is it bad for engines? The expedition was roughly the same.

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You could see if they make some type of winter front for your vehicle. What that does is it covers up part of the radiator or even the grill and it reduces airflow to the radiator and makes the engine run hotter. That's what they do with diesel engines and I think they make the same thing for gas engines also but gas engines don't nearly have the problem of staying up to temp as diesels do when it's cold. Disclaimer: If you overheat your engine doing this please do not blame me.
 
Its almost impossible to say, usually there is wide range of temps that will read "normal" but maybe they are sensitive on the cool side on your fords? Off my scangauge, tonight my car stayed at 184-186F in 10F weather. Normal in 40F weather would be 190F and 194F on the hottest days and my temp guage on the dash stays at "normal".
I can't imagine the thermostat on your Focus could be bad already and letting the temps creep down into the 170's even with the heater cranked though.
 
Both our vehicles will get to normal temperature even on the coldest of Nebraska days (say, -10, -15F). Strangely enough, our Malibu actually runs 5-10 degrees hotter in the winter (?!).

Being such a new car, it would be hard to say something is amiss.
 
Wouldn't worry about it, as long as your gauge is really a gauge and not a glorified idiot light, and you're in the indicated operating temperature. I drive a cummins without a winter front in subzero, and a two hour dose of the block heater or ten minutes of idle gets me to optimum temps in twenty minutes of driving, with a severe swing of the coolant gauge needle due to the thermostat opening and closing. The only time I had trouble was when it gets so cold that I turn the heater/blower to max, and temp needle didn't move at all-dropped it to half for five minutes, and the engine temp climbed up to where it should be.
 
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Originally Posted By: turbodieselfreak
Wouldn't worry about it, as long as your gauge is really a gauge and not a glorified idiot light, and you're in the indicated operating temperature. I drive a cummins without a winter front in subzero, and a two hour dose of the block heater or ten minutes of idle gets me to optimum temps in twenty minutes of driving, with a severe swing of the coolant gauge needle due to the thermostat opening and closing. The only time I had trouble was when it gets so cold that I turn the heater/blower to max, and temp needle didn't move at all-dropped it to half for five minutes, and the engine temp climbed up to where it should be.


Maybe that's why- the heater was running full blast most of the time xD
 
Your worrys are none by grandma has a 2010 focus that i drive alot, and it acts the same way. Ive looked under the fill cap for the creamy goo and there really never is much if any and it sees real short trips except when i borrow it lol. Its getting plenty warm enough. Ive even sat in a parking lot with it idling with the heater on and watched it drop in cold weather. I think these newer foci must have a somehow different cooling system then the previous generation because she had an 2005 that didnt do this. But yeah at first i thought there wasnt something right about it either.
 
I had the same problem after replacing a radiator in an old E-150 I had. Cardboard in front of the radiator did the trick. Having said that if it was a new car I would visit the dealer, perhaps the electric fan is kicking on and it shouldn't be? Or it is normal for the newer engine? Just a thought.
 
AFAIK, if you are driving more than 10 miles, even in the coldest temps, your car will be at operating temp.

25 miles, on the highway, will get your engine good and warm - don't worry.
 
It would be interesting to know what the actual coolant temperature is.

Where does the gauge come to on a warm day? Does the gauge move down when you come to a stop?
 
When I had my old Hyundai (2000 Elantra 2.0), once it got below 20* outside, if I had the heat cranked, the temp gauge would drop a little at idle, then pick back up once there was more load on the engine. The heater was sucking out more heat than it was producing.

With the heat cranked and the airflow through the engine bay, I could see the Focus doing the same, to a point. With the Expedition, I'd be surprised, unless it has one heck of a heater core. I definitely don't have this issue with the Jeep.
 
With most Fords, you can enter "engineering" or "test mode", to see the actual coolant temp. You hold down the trip odometer button while turning the key to the "start" position, until it reads "engineering mode", then you can toggle through various things until you get to coolant temps. Then, you'll be able to get a handle on what your coolant temps actually are while driving.

We had some rare "cold" temperatures for us, high teens, and what I noticed is that around town, there was no difference--but on the highway there was a 2-3 C difference (lower). Still, the coolant never got below 81C once warmed up.

As others have said, you could zip tie something to block off the grill if you're doing a lot of highway miles in really cold temps, but it's probably not necessary. I'd be inclined to cut up a sheet of ABS plastic though, versus cardboard....just seems less combustible!
 
I had the same problem with the Saturn, but the Nissan doesn't seem to have the problem. I think it may be because the Nissan has an oil/coolant heat exchanger.
 
Normal engine operating temp is 180-210F, depending on year/make/model. The coolant gauge, particularly the analog one showing in your pic, is meaningless. When I ran PP this summer, with a couple additives, my operating temp (on the analog gauge) always displayed below the mid needle mark. Yet the digital readout from the scan gauge II would report digital temps as high as 92C (8C below boiling) before the electric fans would spool up to cool the radiator.

My engine, considering run times, speeds, and ambient temp would be well above operating temp for long periods while the analog needle still showed coolant temp just as the pic of yours does. Nothing to worry about as that needle marking, with the info given, is meaningless.

-Spyder
 
Spyder - Keep in mind, with antifreeze in a pressurized system, the boiling point is somewhere between 240 and 270, depending on system pressure, etc. My Jeep doesn't kick the fan at all until 210*, and it won't knock it up to high speed until 220*, which is still considered ok. If it goes over 225*, then it's time to worry.
 
Spyder's right, until you calibrate those factory gauges with a scantool or something accurate they are impossible to get anything specific out of them.

All of my later model cars and trucks have 195-203 degrees stock stats in them from the factory.

And note that any OBDII engine will throw a code if you get three trips without attaining a minimum temp.
 
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