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Diagnostic trouble code

P0118

0 owner reports and 57 manufacturer filings across 15 model years from Ford, Lincoln.

PowertrainGeneric OBD-II code57 manufacturer filings

Where P0118 shows up

Source: NHTSA manufacturer communications and complaints
Model yearFiled underBulletinsOwner reports
2018 Ford FusionEngine And Engine Cooling5
2017 Ford FusionEngine And Engine Cooling5
2018 Ford EdgeEngine And Engine Cooling4
2017 Ford EdgeEngine And Engine Cooling4
2016 Ford EdgeEngine And Engine Cooling4
2016 Ford F-150Engine And Engine Cooling4
2019 Ford FusionEngine And Engine Cooling4
2018 Lincoln ContinentalEngine And Engine Cooling4
2017 Lincoln ContinentalEngine And Engine Cooling4
2018 Lincoln MKXEngine And Engine Cooling4
2017 Lincoln MKXEngine And Engine Cooling4
2016 Lincoln MKXEngine And Engine Cooling4
2019 Ford EdgeEngine And Engine Cooling3
2019 Lincoln ContinentalEngine And Engine Cooling3
2020 Lincoln ContinentalEngine And Engine Cooling1

A model year appears here because the code is named in its record, not because every one of these vehicles sets it. Counts are mentions in the federal files, not failure rates — nobody publishes the denominator.

What it gets filed under

Engine And Engine Cooling 46Electrical System 11
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Manufacturer filings that name it

Source: NHTSA manufacturer communications

Service bulletins and campaigns whose filed summary names P0118. Quoting the document number at a service desk is often the fastest route to a diagnosis someone has already written down.

What P0118 means

Source: SAE J2012 / OBD-II

Engine coolant temperature sensor signal too high.

A stored code names the test that failed, never the part that caused it. It is the starting point of a diagnosis, not its conclusion — the same code has several possible causes and the cheap one is not always right.

Common questions about P0118

Source: NHTSA files and the OBD-II standard

Can I keep driving with P0118 stored?

Nobody can answer that from the code alone, and a site that does is guessing. A steady light generally means the fault was logged and the vehicle is in a reduced-risk mode; a flashing light means stop soon, because a misfiring engine can destroy a catalytic converter in minutes. The safe read of this page is the mileage and the components, not permission.

Does a code mean the car is recalled?

No. Recalls are filed by campaign and matched by VIN, and none of them are triggered by a scan tool. If you want to know whether an open recall applies to one specific vehicle, check the VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls — that is the only source that settles it.

Why do the counts here differ from other sites?

Because these are not estimates. Every number on this page is a count of documents in NHTSA's own files: manufacturer communications that name the code in their filed summary, and owner complaints that name it in the narrative. We do not model, weight or extrapolate them.

Will clearing the code fix it?

Clearing turns the light off and erases the freeze-frame data a technician would have used to work out what happened. If the condition is still there the code returns, usually within a few drive cycles, and the diagnosis now starts from less information than before.