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Thread: 2000 AU Falcon Temp Gauge Issue - NEED HELP PLEASE !

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    Default 2000 AU Falcon Temp Gauge Issue - NEED HELP PLEASE !

    I am at this moment trying to sell my late father in law's car a 2000 AU Ford Falcon

    This is in great condition only done 130,000 Km however with it at my regular mechanic getting the RWC done we have found that the Temperature Gauge is falsely reading over temperature

    It originally when first sent to the mechanic was doing this 100% of the time, a stuck/faulty radiator thermastat has been replaced along with a temperature sensor has helped however intermittently more often than not is showing as being hot (total RHS) even though fans are not on and the engine temperature as measured with a scanning tool is normal/cool. The same happens if the thermostat is removed.

    We are now sending to an auto electrician... I believe the instrument cluster in the AU is all electronic, the temperature I assume may be driven by the ECU... maybe the ECU or instrument cluster is faulty ??

    BTW everything else in the car works no problem

    Has anyone experienced this and or has knowledge of what this problem might be ?



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    Have you tried resetting the ECU?

    Post from a ford forum.



    First of all drive the car to normal engine temp and the thermostat has opened etc
    Then to verify the correct idlespeed of the engine the following 4 steps should be taken with the vehicle being idled while stationary for approx 1-2 minute in each of the following conditions.
    NOTE- DO NOT TOUCH THE ACCELERATOR DURING ANY PERIOD OF THE 5 FOLLOWING ADAPTIVE PROCESSES.

    1. Neutral with all electrical loads OFF.
    2. Neutral with Air conditioning ON.
    3. *Drive with all electrical loads OFF.
    4. *Drive with Air conditioning ON.

    After all this has been done then proceed to go on and to do these steps which actually set the TPS values;

    5. *To set the closed throttle referance position , place the transmission
    in Drive, Air con off, and let the engine idle for a minimum of 1 minute.
    6. Next, set the wide-open throttle reference position by turning the
    engine off- but leave the ignition switch to the "ON," position, ie;Idiot lights on etc, then press the accelerator
    pedal to the floor and hold it their for 1 minute, minimum.
    7. Then Place the gear selector to Park and switch off the ignition.
    8. Drive the vehicle and check for proper shifting patterns.

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    Quote Originally Posted by mtv View Post
    Have you tried resetting the ECU?

    Post from a ford forum.

    The mechanic working on the car says he has reset the ECU with his scanning tool - I have asked him to do this method of ECU reset anyway to see if that is a fixed.

    I noticed this detail from another forum, which also seems to make sense - I will be asking for this to also be done, at least we can begin to isolate the problem...


    --------------

    The Temp Gauge display is not directly connected to the Engine Coolant sender.
    The Engine Coolant sender is actually connected to the ECU.
    The ECU then sends data to the Cluster via a data link.
    The Cluster processor then derives the reading from the data supplied by the ECU and drives the needle on the gauge.
    This is same arrangement as in EF, EL and AU.

    If the gauge is showing spurious temperature readings, but the engine is not affected then the problem is either Eng Temp Sender, ECU, Cluster or wiring (not in any particular order).

    If the engine is affected in conjunction with a higher gauge reading then it would be either of the Eng Temp Sender, ECU or wiring or could be an engine problem.

    To provide a pointer as to what it could be -- wire a multimeter across the two wires going to the sender. Extend the wires into the cab so one can watch the volts readings.
    I do not know what the actual volts will be (will be in the 0 to 5v range) but a bit of watching will identify the values to be expected:-
    1. If the gauge goes up and the volts are steady, then no engine fault but the fault is in the ECU/Cluster/wiring.
    2. If the gauge goes up and the volts also change accordingly then the engine temp is the problem.
    3. If the volts fluctuate or don't track in a linear fashion the it could be wiring or faulty Temp sender.

    I'd try the multimeter first to help point to the culprit (a needle type would be better in this case than a digital... but digital would do).
    BTW, if this was an EF I'd immediately suspect the ECU...those are flakey and why Ford went back to EECIV for the EL.

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    OK some AU basics.

    The instrument clusters are know to be junk and give weird readings, quite commonly its the iginition coils or leads driving them haywire (in which case i just drop in some new coils and leads) however most times ive found just dropping a known working cluster in works.

    Also check with a IR temp reader to ensure it is not really overheating. Sometimes this can be overlooked......fan.....

    Also if all fails get the water tested to see if its a headgasket, all the EA right through to AU series 2 had weak headgaskets that were known to blow, ford fixed this issue on the AU3 with a MLS type headgasket, if yours is a AU3 then disregard this line.

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    Hi all - finally got to the bottom of this. The cluster was the issue here. we tried to get the original fixed, a waste of time and money, we sourced another 2nd hand of course, so all good now

    Thanks to all here who responded, much appreciated

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