Car overheating; cooling fan not working

It is normal for a temperature gauge to fluctuate when the car idles, you will notice 20 to 50 degrees bounce. As long as it is not going into the red or blowing steam don't worry about it.

is the car running hot? some cooling fans never come on going down the road because the air comjng through the front of the vehicle keeps the car cool enough that it doesn't need to come on. but if it is overheating then you may want to check the cooling fan relay.

Cars usually overheat when the thermostat is faulty, coolant level is low, or the water pump fails. If your cooling fan on the radiator does not kick on shortly after the engine reaches operating temperature, you may have a bad cooling fan, cooling fan relay, or cooling fan fuse. If your engine is overheating, start by checking the fluid level, and installing a new thermostat.

A blower motor resistor is the device that controls a car's cabin heating and air conditioning unit's fan speeds. This usually won't cause the engine to overheat, your A/C fan may not function or only function at one speed. Here is a Blower Motor Resistor from Autozone: http://www.autozone.com/autozone/parts/2003-Ford-Focus/A-C-Heater-Blower-Motor-Resistor/_/N-jk8uvZ91tag

I’m happy to help further over the phone at https://www.6ya.com/expert/jeremy_69f3cc28d95bf514

There is a cooling fan relay that is temperature driven and it tells the fan when to kick on, that relay is bad.

http://forums.focaljet.com/team-tech/592423-2000-ford-focus-se-cooling-fan-not-working.html

Sounds to me like you are having a cooling system problem, if water is boiling in the tank or radiator then the engine is overheating. If you have not flushed the cooling system, it would be a good idea to do so. Also you need to test the cooling system at idle and see if the engine will maintain normal temperature, without overheating. Overheating can be caused by plugged or restricted radiator, hoses, or the thermostat, also check the operation of the electric cooling fan. Once you solve the overheating you light should stay off. If you do not solve the overheating soon, the engine will suffer major damage, so check it out very soon. Hope this helps, let me know.

first i would check the cooling fan relays, when the temp gauge gets anywhere between over half and overheating you should hear the relays switch(it will make a clicking sound). but do not let the car overheat! Secondly the fans are controlled by the cooling fan temp switch/sender, this is located on the radiator, and you should check to see if the fan is getting power by using a volt-meter to check for the proper 12 volts. Finally if they still do not kick on you will need to replace the cooling fan motor(s).

You need a total radiator and engine flushout as the inner layer is full of scum, rusty scales that block the water from flowing and causing it to get hotter because it does not touch the inner walls of the radiator fins, therefore rendering it ineffective against the cooling wind drawn by the fan, hence the overheating that you are experiencing. Get a full flushout.

the cooling fan will always come on when using the a/c,so it is not a fan problem,sounds like the pcm is not getting a signal to turn cooling fan on,could be coolant temp sensor.

If worse comes to worse, hard wire the fan to a toggle switch and mount the switch somewhere in the car that is easy for you to access. That way when you're driving down the road and you notice your temp starting to get a little high, flip the switch and let it run as long as you need it to.