Over heating Festiva

[z_man1234]

I am a high school senior from Oklahoma and I have been thinking about taking my 1990 Festiva on a road trip once I graduate to Las Vegas. My brother lives there so I have a place to stay, my only concern is if my festy will make it or not. It has 200,000+ miles on it and has a tendacy to overheat in the summer... I know at this point taking my car sounds like a terrible idea, but it drives well. I was thinking about starting driving at twilight for the overheating issue and only going about 5 hours at a time. So I was wondering what anybody thought about this. Good idea? Or dissaterous idea?

[lanemeyer14]

Figure out the problem before you take that long of a trip. You don't wanna be stranded!

[Pu241]

You need to determine why it over heats, before you kill it.
We have a tremendous amount of experience in this site
Make a post concerning your issue in the Repair section with as much information as you can to help us help you.

Check you previous post concerning you ALT belt.

[z_man1234]

Thank you for the advice. I tried flushing my radiator last summer after the first time it overheated. Seemed to work real well, then it started overheating again so I'm not sure the cause.

[GenevaDirt]

if you want I can move this to the repair forum. Are you sure the fan is coming on? Do you have heat in the winter?

[Zanzer]

How does the coolant look now? Mine was REALLY nasty when I got my car and I had to flush it twice. This would be a good time to replace the thermostat as well

[z_man1234]

Ya you could move it to the repair forum if ya would. Lol. And its green and doesn't look to shabby, but I may try to flush it again. Also how much is a thermostat? Cause I have VERY limited funds at the moment lol.

[Papabug]

Are you sure the fan is coming on?

^^ and belts tight? Remove the radiator cap start the engine let it warm up, look in the radiator (carefully) is the water circulating?

[1988redfordfestiva]

u know what i notice people dont change there sensors i changed the one on the bottom on my radiator and my car stopped over heating now it stay alittle above c and then when it hit almost the middel the fan comes on and i have 180 fail safe thermostate

[JohnGunn]

You need to determine why it over heats, before you kill it.

I agree with Pu241 in this. Not only should you not consider starting a road trip in a car that is overheating, you shouldn't even be driving it in that condition. Every minute it overheats compromises the flexibility of all the rubber parts on your engine; gaskets, o-rings, and seals. Do yourself a big favor. Stop driving it until you successfully address this problem. This is not a "when I have the time to get around to it" problem.

There is another current thread on this topic where I and others have expressed our ideas about this issue. You should check it out.

http://www.fordfestiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28604

John Gunn
Coronado, CA

[1988redfordfestiva]

yeah i agree with u guys i stop driving mine till i figure out my issue and my heater core was messing up the circulation on the flow cause it was clogged with rust and i replace it and a flush and some new sensors engine runs mint now and it's my daily driver while my truck is getting worked on at the time getting new inner wheel wells for it this coming week so i can start driving it so i can give the festy a break here and there

[z_man1234]

Thank you all for the advice, I will defintally check out all the stuff ya'll have posted. Where is the radiator censors located at? I have never heard of those before. Thank you! I bet thats the problem because my festy is quite rusty and before I bought it, it had been sitting around for a year or two from the previous owner.

[jtugfestiva]

there is a coolant temp sensor right below the distributer cap and also check your cooling fan if its actually spinning fast enough to cool engine down. Change your main fuses if your still running the old wire type from the factory 20+ years ago. My festiva was giving me problems due to the fuses. THey were all corroded not giving enough voltage to my fan to turn it on. and now it all works haha!!!.. Dont run your car far if its overheating it will blow a head gasket i can promise you that. How high does the temp gauge go??? it should not go pass a little more then half way and you should hear your fan turn on during that time. hope this helps you

[z_man1234]

Alright! Thanks man! I will defintally check those tomorrow. I really appreciate it. Thats a real good idea to check the fuses. And I think the guage is messed up because I notice that when it overheats, the guage is a little over halfway up. Don't know if thats normal though.

[Pu241]

I guess the first question, to start the inquiry correctly, is why do you think your car is over heating. True over heating will cause in short order a blown head gasket and a high probability of a warped head. I hate to start out chasing the wrong problem.
Remember we are, in some cases thousands of miles from you and must rely on information you are supplying to properly diagnose the issue before it can be fixed.

As a side note, JohnGunn was expressing, I believe, his dismay with what he interpreted as a reluctance to acquire a manual for your festiva. We understand that money is tight, many of us on this site are currently un or under employed. However, that manual will save you many hours of "twenty questions" on this board. As far as parts are concerned I'm certain we can get many of the parts you might need with very little cash outlay. Provided the diagnose confirms a part replacement is needed. I have seem JohnGunn's approach to solving various festiva issues over the last few weeks and I would suggest you not "dis" him so simply, as he is likely to spend the time to write-up a testing procedure for you that will get to the heart of your problem. Again, merely a suggestion on my part no requirement to follow it!