Why is the temp gauge in my car bouncing up and down and being erratic ?

FastLife91

Torque Junkie
Points
57
Location
England
Car
Ford Focus mk2
A few days ago, got in my car after it has been parked several hours. As soon as I started the engine the temp gauge instantly hit the red, fell right back to bottom then shot to red then to bottom. Once driving it stayed below half way and behaved normally.

Got in car the next day and white smoke came out the exhaust for about 5 - 10 seconds and car felt like it was going to stall, revs falling and car juddering. after a few seconds it went back to normal idle and as I was driving it behaved normally staying below 90.

did it again yesterday morning and this morning after parked overnight, smoke out back and unsteady feeling like it was going to cut out for 30 seconds - minute, and the temp gauge shot right to half way then into red and back to bottom again even though the engine was stone cold.

Usually it's okay after the initial cold start up but while I was actually driving today it was fluctuating again, hit red for a second then dropped below half way and being erratic.

I guess the issue with the smoke on cold start up and the fluctuating temperature gauge are related to the same problem as they both occurred at the exact same time .

Is it a problem with the coolant temperature sensor do you think and would a faulty coolant temperature sensor cause a hard cold start and smoke on cold start ?
Many thanks
 
It could be a simple coolant circulation issue.

Do a flush and see if that clears it up before you start buying parts.
 
start by simple inspections , take a closer look at the coolant see if it has oil in it , look into the engine from where you fill oil , does it look like theres white matter in there ? .. im not familiar with your car but if theres a air/oil separator somewhere it could be jammed or in need of replacing (that was the case on my car when i got white smoke at start up )

though i must say it sounds like you have 2 problem and not one , perhaps its just a coincidence that 2 issues popped at the same time ... the temp going nuts could be a Thermostat .. the white smoke could be a blocked air filter , a dying turbo , oil/air separator , injectors etc
 
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