2005 Cooling fan stays on, car runs hot | Ford Thunderbird club group 1955-2005 T-Bird models

  • We're glad you found us via a search engine! Right now, you can join our club absolutely free and unlock member only features like the site search! This notice only appears once! It only takes 30 seconds to register, and we would love to have you as part of the World's largest Thunderbird Forum/Club! Click here to continue

  • 2002-05 Owners. As of August 2022 there is now an entire suspension kit for sale! Scroll down to the bottom of the first post click here.

2005 Cooling fan stays on, car runs hot

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ronaldo
  • Start date Start date
Ronaldo

Ronaldo

Bronze Member
Gold Member
Reaction score
13
Thunderbird Year
1955
Jcc0688 said:
I have watched these threads for a long time on this issue and am still having it with mine. The cooling fan is coming on at a certain temperature and staying on. Some tell me this is normal some say not. My issue is how extremely loud it is. Sounds like an airplane landing. I have had the whole fan replaced it didn't stop the noise. Someone suggested he found a hose to be leaking and had three of them replaced along with thermostat. Did that....still loud. Anyone got a suggestion? I am looking at selling it very soon and wanted to get this issue fixed. It is a 2005 Anniversary edition. Torch Red. 60,000 miles. In really good condition. Garage kept.
Click to expand...
Same issue. Mechanic says it's normal. I say no- not this loud. Just started after 10 years of ownership. Any more news on this topic?

Have been following this topic. Have spent a coupla grand so far. Replaced thermostat and house. Temp sensor in head. (Remove intake). Problem still persists. Mechanic has determined that the fan comes on maximum
because the temp in the head is approx 240. Turn the heater on it comes down. Tested for blown head gasket. Is OK. Will now attempt to bleed cooling system. and replace a possible defective Thermostat. We are at wits end. Has anybody resolved this?

This page contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated. As an eBay Partner, and Amazon Associate I may be compensated if you make a purchase at no cost to you.

 
Ronaldo said:
Same issue. Mechanic says it's normal. I say no- not this loud. Just started after 10 years of ownership. Any more news on this topic?

Have been following this topic. Have spent a coupla grand so far. Replaced thermostat and house. Temp sensor in head. (Remove intake). Problem still persists. Mechanic has determined that the fan comes on maximum
because the temp in the head is approx 240. Turn the heater on it comes down. Tested for blown head gasket. Is OK. Will now attempt to bleed cooling system. and replace a possible defective Thermostat. We are at wits end. Has anybody resolved this?
Click to expand...
Why do you keep posting and titling it "2005 Loud Fan Noise". If you want help, you must title your posts properly. Your problem is that your cooling fan stays on, and never goes off correct?

If it were me, I would get an OBDII reader and see what your cooling temperature actually is.

biddle

Thread 'Survey 2002-2005 Coolant Temperature gauge readings via OBDII'

If you have an OBDII reader and an app like Torque (Andoid Download) (Apple Download), post your coolant temperature after the engine is running a while. Also note, the ambient temperature and model year of your car. Below is a short video that shows you how to make a screen with the Ambient and Engine Coolant temperatures in the Torque app. Feel free to share screenshots of your app results and/or type them out. Only post your OBDII readings below, not gauge readings or cooling questions, etc.

  • Like/Thanks

This is not a common problem, are you sure your mechanic knows what they are doing? Seems like a guessing game that has cost you 2 grand so far.
 
I had to replace a newly installed one since it didn't fix my hot issues. I finally bit the bullet expense and took it to my mechanic. Turned out water pump issue also. They also claimed thermostat was not the right part and replaced it too. After work done at a shop with new water pump and thermostat my issues were resolved.
 
The problem you are having is caused by a defective thermostat. My 2004 developed a coolant leak from the thermostat housing. After I replaced the housing and bleed the cooling system I took the car for a road test. After a few miles of driving the cooling fan would run at high speed. When this happened the temperature gauge was registering halfway, and the engine was not overheating. In all the years I have owned this car the cooling fan has never operated at high speed.

After 15 miles of driving, the temperature gauge started to rise, and the red temperature light began to flash. I immediately turned the engine off and looked under the hood. The coolant in the degas bottle was a little over the full mark and I didn’t see any coolant leaks. When I drove with the heater on hot and the blower on high, the temperature gauge registered halfway once again, and I was able to drive home without any overheating. If I turned off the heater and lowered the temperature, the temperature gauge began rising towards hot again.

Since a new thermostat was included with the new housing and I the fan never operated on high speed before I replaced the housing, I replaced the housing once again. After replacing the housing and bleeding the cooling system I took the car on another road test. This time the cooling fan operated on low speed and the vehicle never overheated.

doug7740
1955 Thunderbird Blue
 
Ronaldo said:
Same issue. Mechanic says it's normal. I say no- not this loud. Just started after 10 years of ownership. Any more news on this topic?

Have been following this topic. Have spent a coupla grand so far. Replaced thermostat and house. Temp sensor in head. (Remove intake). Problem still persists. Mechanic has determined that the fan comes on maximum
because the temp in the head is approx 240. Turn the heater on it comes down. Tested for blown head gasket. Is OK. Will now attempt to bleed cooling system. and replace a possible defective Thermostat. We are at wits end. Has anybody resolved this?
Click to expand...
My 2005 kept over heating,had never been shown the bleed off valve up by the over flow. It had warped the plastic intakes. Gaskets are discontinued but found some on line & had a great repair shop change the gaskets out & it has taken care of my overheating problem. Yes my fan was on & loud like yours. Like you have 60k miles.
 
So this issue has been resolved (loud cooling fan which stays on). Replacing thermostat and housing did not fix. The next shop promised a thorough diagnosis. Over the next three weeks many tests were done. Tried another thermostat. No luck. Replaced water pump. No luck. Replaced temp sensor. No luck. In depth diagnosis revealed that the temp sensor was sending a signal that the temp was 240 degrees (temp gauge all along reading in the middle, normal) thus prompting the fan to go to high speed. Laser gun put temp at 200 degrees. Since the Ford sensor was no longer available the after market was all there is. The conclusion was that the calibration for the after market units is different than the original. The fix? Two 150 ohm resisters in line in the harness leading to the sensor thereby tricking the unit to report a lower temp. All is fine now. This hack is fine with me. Keep in mind that this hack is very similar to what has been done to early birds temp gauge. Many owners (myself included) reporting that the needle would drift alarmingly to the the right edge of the bar yet the laser gun would be 200 or so. Someone came up with the idea of putting a resistor in line so the needle wouldn't go so far over.
 
Honestly, it sounds like you have air bubbles in your coolant flow, I do not know about the 02, but the 03 to 05 are most definitely the hardest engine's to get the coolant "burped"
 
I bought every OEM part of the cooling system new from FOMOCO (except heater core and radiator). Many parts are inaccessible until you pull the intake manifold. Space is so tight in some areas (back of engine and firewall) I had to have my wife lie across sheets of cardboard on top of the engine to route a new part to connect at the firewall as my hands are too big, and the angle is horrible for access if standing and reaching in. It was about $500 in parts at least 5 years ago. I did both a vacuum and pressure test after assembling everything and systems have checked out fine. Note that the temp gauge does not reflect "truth" by design. Unless you are boiling over, it will not show anything but the mid level on H-C "gauge". It's basically a fancy idiot light. Get a code reader which even the cheapest ones will provide live data. You can see the temp climb and drop with load and when the thermostat is opening. It took awhile for me to trust this car because of the "normal" operating temp is otherwise a trouble zone on older American cars... good luck
 
Last edited by a moderator:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top