I had my car stored away for the winter and finally took it out of storage a couple weeks ago and within 5 - 10 miles of driving it my check engine light came on and i noticed my temp gauge was all the way up in the red so i parked the car and checked the obdII code and got P1285 (cylinder head over temp sensed) so then i checked my anti freeze and realized it was low so i started adding some anti freeze & ended up adding over a 1/2 gallon which i figured wasnt right so i decided to check my oil to see if it had antifreeze mixed in with it and sure enough it did. so i figured bad head gasket. so recently i just tore apart the motor and replaced the head gaskets, intake gaskets, valve cover gaskets, etc. finally got it all back together. following all the torque specs listed in my haynes manual of course. & all seemed well & running good & havent noticed any leaks from anywhere at all. but again within 5 - 10 miles the check engine light came on again and i got the same code P1285. checked all the fluid levels many times as to make sure nothing was low on fluid & all at correct levels. anyways my question is mainly what is the meaning of that code and what is causing it to come up? also what do i need to do to correct the issue with the code? thanks all
im linkin a few pics of my cylinder heads i took while i had them off & a few pix of the engine after heads where removed, and also pics of what the inside of the valve covers looked like when i removed them! (obviously the pix are before everything was cleaned) lol
That code is set whenever that sensor reads really high temperatures. Like overheating.
The blown head gasket and lack of coolant obviously caused that code to set before.
When you replaced all the gaskets, did you have the heads checked to see if they had warped?
As long as the car is working fine now, and your confident nothing is wrong, then its possible you have an air bubble. There is a small bolt on top of a water pipe in the front of the engine, you need to remove that bolt while you fill the system up with coolant.
Also did you leave the battery unhooked while you fixed the car to clear the codes?
__________________
Jesse Berger 90 LX, Previous 4 cyl. (Decommissioned, 351W on the way)
H/C/I+Bolt Ons
Best ET: 12.54@106 mph 2001 V6 5 Speed Daily Driver Windstar Intake, Dual Exhuast, CAI, Headers
Best ET: 15.6@88 mph (stock trim)
I've gotten that code before too. Let the system bleed, then if it comes back up we need to look deeper into it, but I think you'll be fine from here......
I believe the sensor is part of the transmission harness. If we need to find it......
yes i had them checked for warpage and was told that they were not warped.
It seems to run just fine for the most part. except when i turn the heater on it blows out cold air even after the engine gets to normal operating temp. I had this problem last year quite a while before the head gasket went. i believe i even had posted on the issue last year. i flushed the cooling system out completely last year as i was recommended to do. i thought all was good and since it was end of summer and fall i never needed to use the heater then when it started getting cold i put it away in storage for the winter. so i guess the flush didnt fix the issue. =/
any ideas?
and thanks again for always being extremely helpful!
That code is set whenever that sensor reads really high temperatures. Like overheating.
The blown head gasket and lack of coolant obviously caused that code to set before.
When you replaced all the gaskets, did you have the heads checked to see if they had warped?
As long as the car is working fine now, and your confident nothing is wrong, then its possible you have an air bubble. There is a small bolt on top of a water pipe in the front of the engine, you need to remove that bolt while you fill the system up with coolant.
Also did you leave the battery unhooked while you fixed the car to clear the codes?
sorry... yes i left the battery unhooked the entire time i worked on it.
I took a pic of what i am assuming is the lil bolt u mentioned stalkerstang.. i circled the bolt in the picture i attached, could you tell me if that is indeed the bolt u refered to. also im assuming i will want to do this once the engine is cool, and also the engine will need to be running with the heater on high like normal when filling the coolant, correct? with this bolt removed do i have to worry about antifreeze escaping through the bolt hole? dumb question kinda i know but just wanna make sure to do it correctly.
also shinerstang u mentioned let the system bleed, what exactly do you mean by that if u could please explain.
also i have erased the code & within a couple miles of driving the code comes back again. i have tried erasing it a few times but it keeps coming back.
Yeah thats it. Removing that bolt is how you bleed the system, what Tom was refering to. I think there is a sticker under the hood or on the radiator support plastic cover that tells you about it.
I also thought of the heater core. Your not loosing coolant anywhere are you? Like inside the car? Just trying to find out why it blew the headgasket in the first place.
Were there any other codes set off?
Times like these where a Ford IDS comes in handy, you could actually see what that sensor was reading when the code was set.
__________________
Jesse Berger 90 LX, Previous 4 cyl. (Decommissioned, 351W on the way)
H/C/I+Bolt Ons
Best ET: 12.54@106 mph 2001 V6 5 Speed Daily Driver Windstar Intake, Dual Exhuast, CAI, Headers
Best ET: 15.6@88 mph (stock trim)
ok REAL funny stalkerstang... i removed that bolt u mentioned and as soon as i fired up the engine, the coolant shot out of the hole like a gyser & my whole engine got covered with antifreeze. uncool for real! & now my coolant level is definitely way low and im all out of antifreeze & Cant drive up and get more! =/
i am hoping that maybe i just did it totally wrong & you werent telling me to do that to be funny!
No the engine wasnt hot at all, I went out and tried it first thing this morning so it sat all night long.
I am getting so frustrated with this issue. i just went and bought a new thermostat and radiator cap & replaced them.
after i replaced the thermostat i filled the radiator up with coolant until it was full, even burped the air bubbles out & topped it back off until no more air bubbles came out. after filling the radiator the next step would be turning heater blower on high and starting the engine allowing it to warm to normal operating temp, and the thermostat should open and the coolant level in the radiator should go down, correct?? i know that normally when u refill the radiator and top it off, after u start the engine the fluid level does not change until the thermostat opens then the level drops. but after i start the engine the coolant immediately starts to overflow out the top and keeps coming out, it just flows over the top and runs down, not pouring out but coming out at a steady flow. this shouldnt happen right?
Also i have erased the P1285 code at least 10 times now, after erasing it the code comes back up again before i can even drive the car 2 miles.
also my haynes manual says that the spring side of the thermostat goes into the intake manifold, can u verify that is the correct way the thermostat is installed?
If the heater core was blown, the you would probably be leaking coolant onto the carpet inside the car.
It should drop some once the thermostat opens. You might see if maybe the radiator is clogged, try removing it and flushing it, see if it flows through.
Just hard to pinpoint this over the net.
__________________
Jesse Berger 90 LX, Previous 4 cyl. (Decommissioned, 351W on the way)
H/C/I+Bolt Ons
Best ET: 12.54@106 mph 2001 V6 5 Speed Daily Driver Windstar Intake, Dual Exhuast, CAI, Headers
Best ET: 15.6@88 mph (stock trim)
I know its hard to diagnose any issues over the net. I do really appreciate u trying to help!
Just before winter i had did a complete cooling system flush using a flush kit that i got from the auto parts store so im pretty sure that the radiator isnt clogged. i will remove it and try flushing it to see if it is clogged though. i have tried everything else i could think of so it wont hurt to try that.
also i do not think that the thermostat is opening up at all when it is suppose to. and the upper radiator hose isnt firming up and getting hot.
receiving OBDII code P1285 on 2001 v6 mustang 
