Anyone auto cross a fiesta st? I have questions if you do

My son and I auto crossed my wife's '15 st yesterday.  His first real auto cross!!  We dual drove the car.  About half way through the day, the temp idiot light kept flashing.  Just for about 20 seconds.  The temps were higher than normal, but nothing close to over heating.  We also felt at times we were hitting the rev limiter when we were not.  We hit it enough!  

Is it normal for this car to let you know you are spiking the coolant temp?  The car did really well, even with junk tires.  I am used to my  mustang, so I was waiting for some power, but also pleased that I had so much room on the course.  Also, for a fwd car, you can get the back end to slide pretty well.

I have auto crossed this car before, but never saw this temp issue.  The car has never been dual driven though.  My wife drove it as did I on a much smaller course.

Thanks hive.

What was the air temp outside for the day? 

Extreme humidity?  Any breeze? 

It was very breezy, temp was about 65.  Super nice day.  Humidity was low for sure.

I've had a co-driver on a hot day, but never had any temperature issues.  Have tracked it as well and it stayed nice and cool.  Are you sure it wasn't the traction control or ABS? 

The 15s in particular seem to have some temperature issues, but all of them aren't the most robust things ever. Mine has been fine once I figured out the right process for cooling between runs. Which is open hood, spray radiator, let run for a minute, shut off until next run. Letting it run the whole time between runs seems to heatsoak everything and cause problems. Once you peg the temperature gauge it does go into a sort of limp mode where it will limit throttle and then eventually start backing off, which may be what you were experiencing.

dps214 said:

The 15s in particular seem to have some temperature issues, but all of them aren't the most robust things ever. Mine has been fine once I figured out the right process for cooling between runs. Which is open hood, spray radiator, let run for a minute, shut off until next run. Letting it run the whole time between runs seems to heatsoak everything and cause problems. Once you peg the temperature gauge it does go into a sort of limp mode where it will limit throttle and then eventually start backing off, which may be what you were experiencing.

A friend of mine had an ST, not sure which year, and he got rid of it because of the limp mode. When you autocross in the summer, with a co-driver, sometimes it was unavoidable. 

So when are you switching from the Mustang to the Fiesta?  You guys seem like you were enjoying it.  :-)

thedoc said:

It was very breezy, temp was about 65.  Super nice day.  Humidity was low for sure.

 

Those sound like pleasant conditions for the engine to be complaining of over-heat.    My first thought is air in the coolant.  Has the car ever had work that might have resulted in coolant work?  Radiator replaced?  Like, maybe from accident damage?  

I have a 2015 and even in 90*+ heat i have never had a problem. I dont even open the hood or anything to cool it between runs.

There was a recall for something with the cooling system. Might want to check and see if its applicable to your build date. Mine was outside of the build date and hasn't had any issues. I do know it gets a new thermostat, coolant sensor and a flash and the symptoms were low coolant level in the degas bottle along with overheating warnings.

I have heard complaints about limp mode on the focus and fiesta st before.  Running the AC to turn on the radiator fan and spraying the radiator while the car is running seem to be the best solutions.  Spraying the intercooler probably doesn't hurt either.

I wonder if that engine cover might contribute.

Run with the heater on manual.

You will know it when you hit the rev limiter.

Yep. I codrove one at nats 2015. We ran the heater on full blast and hosed down the radiator with water between runs. 

Focus ST owner  here.

I run my with my heater on during and after runs during the summer events here in Texas and have no issues with engine or oil temps because of it. but the car is hellish to be in right after the run until the temp comes down to where i feel comfortable running the AC again. But my buddy and I hot lapped the car at a pro solo regional event putting 24 runs in the car and it was the equivalent of over a full track session of time and the car didn't flinch. If you stay ahead of the oil temps with the heater it's super easy to keep  it happy at autox even in texas events at 100+ degrees.