Ford Mondeo III (2000 - 2007) - Heater temperatures... and pinking... 1.8LX 2001

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Tue 23 Oct 2007 11:37
Heater temperatures... and pinking... 1.8LX 2001 - justmusic
Hi,

I don't know if these two problems are connected or not.

1.
I find it difficult to regulate the heater temperature: turning the knob a little makes absolutely no difference, turn it a bit more and the temperature soars or drops.

Then this morning, outside temp correctly showing as 7deg and by the time I got to work the temp guage was showing normal (ie straight up) but heated air was only just lukewarm, even set to fully hot.

Any ideas if this is the heater control switch playing up (incidentally - are the digital units swappable for the normal dials?) or a temp sensor somewhere?

2.
Now the second problem - the car pinks badly. Just been serviced (80k) and new plugs (platinum) put in. Car was pinking before the service and is still doing it: particularly bad when holding a constant speed, say 40mph in 4th, up a slight hill. Give it some gas and it rattles like hell for a brief moment then OK, but by which time I am doing 50 in a 40 limit...

I've heard that this can be due to the ECU not getting the right info about the engine temp, so not getting the timing right. Is this a possibility, and might this be linked to the heater blips?

Any advice gratefully received, as always.

Thanks,

Gary.
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Tue 23 Oct 2007 11:42
Heater temperatures... and pinking... 1.8LX 2001 - bell boy
cant answer first bit
second bit last time i ran an 1800 mondy the only way to cure the annoying pinking was with shell or bp petrol standard grade,ive never used supermarket petrol in anything ive run since ,this cured the pinking.
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Tue 23 Oct 2007 11:50
Heater temperatures... and pinking... 1.8LX 2001 - justmusic
I've tried this. Even gave the car a treat with some super-duper-unleaded, but not noticeably better.

Thanks though.

Gary
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Tue 23 Oct 2007 12:45
Heater temperatures... and pinking... 1.8LX 2001 - Screwloose
Gary

There is a knock sensor to detect pinking and retard the offending cylinder[s.]

If that's working properly, but not curing the problem; then there may be a software update to allow it a larger adjustment range.

Ask your dealer.
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