EB not running right - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

phibz · 09-25-2005, 01:17

i bought an eb II with a blown head gasket... i ran it for a little with no thermostat so the car didnt get hot.

i ended up changing the engine with one out of a ED i had.

prob is the car still runs like its overheating.
you know how when the car gets hot the fan runs overtime to cool it down.. well this is what it does all the time.

its annoying cause im goin through so much fuel. the car isnt even hot and it runs like it is.

ive changed the thermostat and it doesnt help. could it be the ecu?... none of the air conditioning is connected

oldwagon · 09-25-2005, 03:29

Mate, do yourself a big favour and go to a radiator shop and get them to
A) Flush out the cooling system
and
B) Check that the rest of the system is up to scratch - it will be cheap insurance and much less than another head!

BUT, are you sure the motor is running hot? It could have a sick gauge or something. Once again, the radiator shop will have the little thermometer to check this.

Another thing to note : ALL E series (ea - el) motors have a tendency to just blow headgaskets for no particular reason. The old crossflow motors did not.

phibz · 09-25-2005, 20:12

yeah i know its not a headgasket cause i rebuilt the engine before i put it in..

occasionally on cold mornings it will run properly.. then it will end up clicking over and running as if the car is hot.

im guessing a faulty sensor somewhere... but where?

keep research · 09-29-2005, 07:10

Yes... check out the radiator first. Fords are known for sanding up at the bottom of the radiator tank. They never ever cleaned out the casting sand properly. You will be suprised at what you see when the radiator shop cleans it out.

phibz · 09-29-2005, 23:31

i flushed the radiator out when i did the engine swap.

anyone else with ideas? keep them coming please

phibz · 10-10-2005, 23:25

ok a little more info on my prob.
belts started to make alot of noise the other day so i checked the power steering fluid and it was empty.. (wasnt like that before cause i check it often)
so i filled it back up and went for a drive. the car drives normally sometimes then clicks over and goes back to the shit setting.
could this be because there is air in the power steering system?
a faulty power steering pump?

im pretty sure its something to do with the power steering now as i changed the engine and it still does it, but the pump was still the same

defective · 10-11-2005, 07:14

What you’re describing there sounds like a faulty clutch fan (that’s the fan on the front of the engine). They operate via a clutch mechanism that when it starts to get hot (as detected by a bio-metal strip) the strip contracts forcing the clutch the engage, otherwise the fan relatively free spins. If the clutch sizes up for any reason it will cause the fan to run continuously, causing enormous drag on the engine and resulting in very poor power and fuel economy. It is a common issue these days with Ford EB and ED’s and many people do not realise. You will quite often hear a Ford drive past with the clutch fan engaged when it’s a stone cold night and it really should not be on at all. This also explains why you think the fans are running overtime. They are, but it’s not to cool the engine down at all. I’m guessing it’s the bio-metal strip that’s causing the issue as you have said that on some cold mornings it runs fine for a little, and then changes suddenly; these can stop flexing as they should and cause the fans to stay on in heat ranges they should be off. I agree with the above posters on taking it to a reputable radiator specialist as they will be able to tell you if it’s the clutch or not, but you can test it to a degree yourself too. With the engine off and cool try to move the fan blades, you should not feel too much resistance and you should be able to give them a spin and they will spin by themselves a few times. If you notice a large amount of resistance or they do not spin a few times after you give them a flick then the clutch is almost certainly faulty. Either pickup a clutch fan from the wreckers that spins freely, or do the thematic fan conversion.

On a side note a radiator specialist stuck his hand into a running clutch fan once to demonstrate this point to me. I do NOT recommend you try this though. Basically what he was showing me is that there is enough resistance to turn the fans with the engine running, but they do not engage till there is enough heat to cause the clutch to engage. A faulty clutch and he would have had no fingers.

Oh, and as for the power steering; it’s not going to cause your engine to run hot at all. What you will do is destroy the pump yes, but that’s not going to affect the engine itself.

defective · 10-11-2005, 07:22

Another thing to note is that if the clutch fan is faulty it can be doing damage to your water pump as it runs off the water pumps shaft. It may be worth checking your water pump shaft for excessive movement as well to make sure you have no other issues with the system. Also if you’re concerned about the condition of your radiator then you can pick up new ones for around the $200 mark. They are easy to install and are certainly worth it for the earlier E Series Ford’s.

phibz · 10-11-2005, 14:48

thanks for the info.

i didnt say the power steering pump was making the car hot.. when the fan is clicking over there is no signs of the engine being hot.
so it must be the bio-metal strip on the clutch fan

thanks again. i will try it out