What... ANOTHER thread about coolant temp?

[Kablam]

I've tried the good old search and couldn't find the answer to my question.

Obviously I've got a problem with my temperature gage, I figure its the usual thermostat housing stuff. Anyway my question is that everything still seems to run fine, but am I damaging my car at all by not replacing this immediately. Obviously it will be replaced eventually, but with money as lacking as it is I don't want to do it unless absolutely required atm.

Cheers

Blam

[MoggyTech]

What is the gauge reading? Too hot or too cold?

If too cold, might just be duff sender unit, or thermostat stuck open. If engine is running cool, that wastes fuel.

If too hot, it needs attention NOW.

Any fault codes?

[Kablam]

I couldn't tell you about fault codes, if it was running hot obviously I would be straight down the garage to get it looked at. The temperature readout is often fine, then randomly drops.

[fordfan]

Poor fuel economy and bore wash due to mixture enrichment are two consequences that come to mind. £40 should buy you a new thermostat assembly.

[r_holmes22]

I replaced the coolant temperature sensor in my wife's 1.4MPi recently. Like you, the symptoms were the temperature guage dropping below the usual midway point. This happened for a couple of weeks then for the next couple of weeks very rarely reached the midway point at all. I couldn't say whether it was damaging the car but I wasn't comfortable with it. I could swear the fuel economy dropped significantly, but this may just have been psychological (I'm used to driving my own diesel, so am not dead familiar with her petrol MPi). My thinking was that if the car thinks it's not up to temperature it will not adjust the choke settings and so continue to run on a richer fuel mixture. Anyway, the part was less than £30 from the local stealership and wasn't hard to fit. Temperature guage is back to normal now.

Sorry not to be more helpful. My point is that you are probably better safe than sorry, but my wife's ran for about four weeks with the faulty sensor without giving up on us.