[destevez54]

As the proud owner of a 2006 Ford Fusion SEL, I have one major complaint, that the yahoos at the local dealer don't seem to want to research for me. When I shut off the car for the night with the climate control in Auto, and go out the next morning and start it up, it wants to blow A/C full blast until the motor idles down and I drive for about 2 miles, at which point the Exterior temp display finally goes down to the correct temperature. It seems like it's stuck from the night before. This morning it was still reading 83 and the actual temp was 74. I could understand it if the motor was hot, but I'm talking about a stone cold motor. I figured what the hell this morning and tried the old Self-Test (Hold Off and Defrost then press Auto) It went through the test and did not return any fault codes. Any thoughts?? The service manager suggested turning it off the night before and turning it back on the next morning, which has no effect. Do I have a bad Exterior temp sensor, or do I have a bad interior temp sensor, or is the programming in this EATC just way more retarted than the Grand Marquis and Taurus SHO I've had in the past.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[lammer]

No, your exterior temp gauge sounds like its okay.

I've had them in my last few cars (SVTF, Explorer XLT, Explorer Sport).  They will not give you an accurate reading until a couple minutes after you start to drive.  (i.e. you park the, front in the sun on ashphalt -- it's reading will skyrocket, conversely, you park it in the shade under a tree with the front open to a breeze, it'll read lower, at start up). Within a minute its usually back to reading an accurate temp, though.

Even when I park it in the garage during the winter, by the time it get down my block, the reading is usually corrected itself.

 

[1sttimeMercury]

Mine does the same thing, and I've always thought it was reading correctly. Here in Texas where it's been miserably hot this summer, the reading while the car's in the garage can be ridiculously high, like 120. But once I leave the house and drive a block or two, it's usually come down closer to the actual outside temp.

destevez54, I have a question for you: You mentioned the self test (Hold Off and Defrost then press Auto). I tried doing that on my Milan but nothing happened. I'm pressing the Off button and the Defrost (not rear defrost) button down, then pressing Auto while still pressing the other two. Am I doing something wrong?

 

[destevez54]

1sttimemercury,

To enter the EATC self-diagnostic, press Off and Defrost (not Rear Defrost) at the same time then release those two and press and release Auto. The fan speed indicator will run from the bottom up until the test is complete, at which time the codes will be displayed, or the entire panel will light up (everything, even things you may have not known are there) press the cooler or warmer button to exit the self test. It'll reset the entire EATC. (mine registered the Exterior temp as -40)

I suppose that I wasn't clear as to my complaint. I live in Maryland, and it's usually in the upper 80's or 90's during the day and will drop to the mid 60's or 70's by morning. I'm usually home late and leave early, and I don't like how the EATC seems to just stick on whatever function it was performing the night before. It doesn't take just a couple of blocks to get the ext. temp to come down. About the time it gets to the correct ext. temp it'll correct the interior temp. My SHO used to start out about 10 or 15 degrees warmer and then correct itself before I'm even at the end of the driveway (2/10ths of a mile), but it was already correcting the interior temp. I'm out on the highway (1-2 miles away) and driving before the Fusion starts to register even close, and i'm still freezing to death.

Now that the history is complete, does your car, when in Auto, when the Ext. temp is reading mid 80's in the morning, even though interior temp is below (like 67, as it was this morning) the setting (usually 71 or 72) blow MAX A/C?? I'd like some thoughts. I've even gone so far as to stick an A/C test thermometer in the vent the night before and it's reading below the desired temp, and the car's still blowing out MAX A/C with full fan speed until the Exterior temp comes down.

I suppose that if this is just the nature of the beast, I'll get over it. But, if your car doesn't behave the same way, I'd like to have some ammunition to go to the dealer with.

Thanks

 

[1sttimeMercury]

Thanks for the info on the self-test. I'm going to try it tonight.

My car's Auto A/C does blow at full-force when it is first turned on, no matter what temp I've set it at or the outside temp. Of course, I bought this car in June, and I'm in Texas, so it's been ridiculously hot for the past 3 months anyway. Maybe when it cools down in October I can see if it still blows full at the start.

 

[ColdFusion]

1sttimeMercury,
I just did the test on my Fusion. I think it helps when everything is off. When I did the test, I heard all of the vents opening and closing, and the screen lit up like described earlier.

I'm in this Dallas heat too, and my air always stays on high! Today I left it on Auto and will see what it does in the morning when I startup. I did just notice that the high idle is only when cold. I started it up a few minutes ago after it sat for a couple of hours, and it idled normally.

Does anyone know if there are any self-tests (or digital speedos, needle sweeps, etc) for the trip computer (other than the given system check)? I tried a couple of button presses with no luck.

 

[ColdFusion]

Ok...When I went to work this morning (Around 6:15 :shock it was around 77 degrees. When I started the car, the air did not blow full blast, but at around level 2 or 3 (and believe it or not, with a little heat mixed in). I'm guessing if it's not too too hot and dark outside, it will blow at a lower speed. But, if there is light outside and a little warmer, it tries to cool down quickly.

 

[1sttimeMercury]

That's good to know. When it gets cooler around here (Dallas), I'm interested to see how the EATC reacts.

I've asked this question on another post, but I'm still curious as to why the EATC doesn't kick in recirculated air when it's so hot outside. I understand it takes a few minutes to cool the car with outside air because it's actually cooler than the air inside the hot car, but one would think after a little while the re-circ would come on. I always have to press it myself. Anyone else?

 

[ColdFusion]

Actually, when it's in full AUTO mode, it turns the recirc on and off without displaying the picture. I understand what you are saying though; my old Accord would turn the recirc light on and off when it felt like changing it. I guess Ford didn't want us to see that happening!

 

[1sttimeMercury]

How weird! I guess they want us to figure it out for ourselves!