p1299 on track

[mattss]

Hello everyone,

This weekend i took my ford fiesta st mk7 2013 mp215 to the track and it threw a p1299 code for overheating cylinder head. Zhile on track i monitered my coolant temps and they never whent over 98 degrees celsius. I have had this code before with spirited driving on the road to. i took it to the shop and they didnt do anything they just told me it was because it was a hot day.
Now the thing is that when i was at the track it was raining and not warm at all.
Does anyone know what could be wrong?
On the track i checked coolant wich was good, i also checked the fan and this was working to. when on the track i was already running with the heating terned all the way up to make overheating less of an issue.
When i first got of the track in limp mode i checked and is seemed that coolant was missing from the reservoir. After not driving more then two laps i made de call to just ggo home to not break anything from the overheating. on the way home i stopped to check the coolant level again and the level in the raservoir had risen again to where i had filled it up to the day before going to the track.

Does anyone know what could be going wrong? im thinking maybe a fault in the cooling loop somewhere or maybe the sensor is just bad and activating to soon?
It really ruiened my first trackday and im hoping to find the issue so i could go again without problems.
Toningt im checking my plugs for something and also doing a compressions test to make sure the head is ok, although im not very worried because the car runs and sounds fine.

thanks in advance!

 

[cidsamuth]

Without knowing for sure, my first instinct would be to change out the sensor on the head. It is on the driver's side under a couple of other things, but otherwise not an expensive or hard to swap part. Worst case, you're out a few bucks.

As for coolant level, I have seen so much goofy crap with these cars. Be sure that you are comparing levels at the same time and roughly the same ambient temp. The min and max levels on these cars are meant to be measured with the car cold, like first thing in the morning.

 

[mattss]

Thanks! Im going to order a sensor and replace it. Just took out the plugs and these are ok. Also checked the compression and all cilinders are high 11 to 12 bar so at least no cracked head. have there been common troubles with the cooling? Where exactly is the sensor btw?
Thanks very much!

 

[cidsamuth]

It's on the driver's side of the motor . . . see the second picture in this thread: https://www.fiestastforum.com/threads/p0128-code-coolant-temperature-sensor-location.19085/

As for common cooling problems, you will likely need to change your radiator if you are tracking the car; the engine coolant gets hot, and the car goes into limp mode. I had it happen. Some have even reported having the problem on the street while driving in crazy hot climates. There are a few good solutions, like Mishimoto, Mountune, Whoosh, and even some eBay generic radiators.

And, if you're tracking it, a new charge cooler is a must. Otherwise, your charge temps will climb and the car will pull timing to compensate. There are many good options out there.

Neither of those would have thrown the code that's troubling you now, though.