Greetings!
In regards to the temperature problem, I can think of a couple possible causes for what you describe.
(1) If any of the plastic shrouds or air dam parts around or under the front of the vehicle are damaged or missing, it can affect airflow through the radiator at low speeds. If insufficient airflow passes through the radiator core, going around it instead, then the radiator will not be able to dissipate heat as efficiently resulting in the vehicle running slightly hotter than normal untill the vehicle speed is great enough to make up for the airflow difference. If you can locate another vehicle of the same make and model, take a look underneath the front to see if you can see any difference in appearance, such as a missing air deflector of some sort. OR, your local Ford dealer parts department can probably pull up a front end parts blowup in their parts catalogueing to allow you to possibly identify any missing components.
(2) You mention that temperature drops to normal at highway speeds. This is either due to increased airflow through the radiator core, OR due to increased coolant flow through the radiator core. At higher engine speeds, the water pump is turning faster; on a 10 year old vehicle it is possible for the fins in the water pump impeller to have corroded partially away, resulting in reduced coolant flow at lower speeds. The only way to tell if this is your problem would be to remove and inspect the water pump; if going to that trouble installing a new one is a logical thing to do while you have it removed anyway.
(3) You mention having the radiator checked, but really do not mention what method of checking was performed. Often, looking down the neck into the tank does not tell the whole story. If it is an original 11 year old radiator, it would be normal wear for it to have developed some tube restrictions due to deposit accumulations over the years, reducing efficiency. Radiators have really come down in price the last few years, and yours is at the age where it will likely need replacement soon anyway. You may want to consider replacing it as maintenance, as well as for diagnostic purposes. Even an experienced technician cannot always accurately assess the true condition and efficiency of a 10 year old radiator without physically disassembling it to look through the core tubes...
I would suggest that installing an incorrect radiator from some other vehicle application is really not a good thing to do; it often creates other problems such as fit and hose modification requirements that in turn can create reliability problems. The vehicle performed correctly when it was built, with the correct components installed. Changing the cooling system design should never be necessary.
Installing a colder thermostat is also a bad idea. The engine MUST reach normal operating temperature (192 degrees) for the engine to operate as designed. If the coolant temperature sensor does not reach this temperature, the fuel mixture calculation will always be skewed off to the rich side because the computer will think the engine is warming up after a cold start, and the spark advance curve will be modified also. If your area has emissions inspections, the vehicle will never pass a smog test with the engine not at correct operating temperature also.
Incidentally, has anyone chasing this problem tested teh temperature gauge and sender for correct operation? It may be possible that the gauge is reading slightly to the warm side and engine temperature may be normal. Seeing temperature drop at highway speed slightly is considered normal operation in most vehicles; possibly the temp sender is out of calibration and reading to the warm side? Running the engien with a meat thermometer in teh radiator neck and comparing coolant temp with the thermostat open and coolant circulating to waht the dash gauge is reading might be informative.
In regards to the strut problem:
The vehicle height is determined by the springs, and there are factory measurement specs in the alignment inormation to determine if the ride height is correct. If the ride height is not within specifications, the vehicle cannot be aligned correctly: base ride height is the FIRST alignment measurement taken, and all other angles are determined in reference to this baseline. If the vehicle is aligneed with the ride height out of spec even a fraction of an inch too high or too low, then the rest of the alignment measurements from that point are incorrect.
Knowing this, there are only 2 possibilities here: either the ride height IS correct, and the vehicle is completely in spec, and therefore has the correct parts installed; or the ride height is incorrect and thefore the technician that performed the alignment is not knowledgeable and has aligned the vehicle incorrectly. If you suspect that your ride height is incorrect, ask the technician that performed the repairs or the alignment to provide you a copy of the procedure and factory specifications for ride height measurement for your model. This information is located in ANY alignment spec book or database, because (as I mentioned) it is measurement #1 for performing an alignment on ANY vehicle. Having this information will allow you to measure height yourself at the specific points indicated (a tape measure works just fine for this) to determine if your vehicle is indeed within normal height specifications.
If it is too low, the ONLY component that can affect this in the suspension is the spring/ strut assembly. If the correct parts are installed, the height will be correct. You may want to be aware that there are often many different springs available for a given model, dependingt on such variables as whether it is equipped with air conditioning or not, suspension package, stabilizer bar diameter, etc... Often parts stores or aftermarket suppliers will have only ONE part number for a spring application, while if you check with the Ford dealer they will have 8 or 10 different springs with different spring rates and load capacities. The most accurate way to identify the service parts for your particular vehicle is to have them identified by VIN number at the dealer. The same goes for struts. No, I am not a dealer tech and don't work for Ford; its just that after having run into such problems many times in the past when dealing with aftermarket suspension parts, I ahve learned to now only now install OE (Ford) suspension parts such as struts and springs, and they always fit perfectly.
One other thing: make sure the tires on the vehicle are the correct size and are properly inflated. Tire sidewall height factors in to height measurement, as on many vehicles the measurements are taken from the floor surface to specific suspension or body points.
I hope this is helpful; if so, an accept would be most appreciated! Thanks!
Edited by Steve7654 on December 26 2005 at 1:31pm
