G'day guys,as above,can the ecu in my au s1 futura tell if the waterpump is on the way out ie: bring fans on at idle? I spoke to a cooling system specialist about my issue and he said once he repaired a au falcon with same symptoms and after he replaced most sensors and ecu (same as me) it turned out to be the waterpump. I suspect the same thing because i kinda remember looking at the surge tank when i first got the au, the fans wasnt on at idle and the bleeder pipe from the thermostat housing was at idle pumping coolant to the surge tank and now nothing but when you give it a rev it pumps coolant.The system has been professionally bled when new radiator went in and when i checked the thermostat i bled system properly for 20 minutes so pretty sure there are no air pockets. Now the falcon is chewing some gas because the fans are on early (triggered at 78degs) and its not getting up to temp. After researching for ages i came across a great website called "ford fuel injection systems" and it said the waterpump can influence the temp sensor, im assuming if the ecu dosent read the the right values (coolant heat rising too quick) from the temp sensor it would think theres a problem with the sensor or something else and trigger the fans? Before i get a code scan (specialist said check waterpump first), can members confirm if i'm on the right track please?

thanks heaps in advance
Maka

Bump anyone?

The ECU won't detect a faulty water pump. The fans are supposed to come on "low" speed at about 78/79 or so degrees. and when the vehicle reaches 20km/h they turn off. I think the fault is somewhere else, The water pump is unlikely to be the issue unless it never ran coolent, In that case it would be more likely to be leaking.

G'day edfairmont,thanks for the reply much appreciated. Some people was saying its normal and some say its not-members have told me its normal but local dudes in the trade was saying it wasnt- maybe theyll say bulldust to get business yeah the fans are on low speed and trigger off above 20kmh and i did notice when i installed the new head temp sensor that the temp needle was was sitting lower on the guage and not around n and o where it used to sit, maybe thats the cause of the petrol chewing? i think thats when the guzzling started. theres no water leaking or noise coming from the w/pump and its not overheating so w/pump should be fine. i was thinking the pump impellor was worn out and at idle the thermo fans were being brought on by the ecu. oh yeah the temp sits on 93deg when warmed up according to the dash diags- do reckon operating temp is ok? i think ill put the old temp sensor back in and see how that goes. thanks once again for your wisdom mate

cheers Maka

No worries mate , That's interesting because the temp needle is getting the same feed as the digital read out... hmmm But 93c is about what ford want them to run at. Personally I think it's too hot, I have an 82c thermostat in my car and have re-wired my thermos to eliminate "low speed" so now they only come on high speed, unless im doing 20km or over. Or when the thermos cool it back down to 79C then they cut out. AFAIK the fords cold start tune stops around 75c. Of which my car never gets that cool and my fuel consumption is very good, Highway 7-7.5L per 100, Town 11-11.5.

With my thermos once they come on theyre staying on not cutting out ie : if my falc sat at idle for say 10mins fully warmed up, the fans on low speed dont seem to cool it back down and cut out for some reason. Is that because the low speed setting cant cool it back down to 78degs? Is there a chance the fanpack or a relay maybe faulty? I havent heard the high speed setting yet but i know it works because i pulled the connector off the temp sensor and they did come on flat out but when i put the a/c on flat out theres no change in fan speed- ive read there supposed to be flat knackers in au's but im not 100% sure. Ill put the dash back into diag mode and suss out whats going on. In your opinion should i give the 82deg thermostat a go? Any other suggestions?

P.S congrat's on the dohc convo

cheers heaps champ
Maka