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Temp Gauge showing very HOT

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hinrichsscott

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May 1, 2007
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I have a 1997 Ford Contour, V6, East coast, auto w/ air. After over heating and the temp gauge not working and error codes, I replaced the water pump, thermostat, temp gauge sendor, engine temp sendor. The cars seems to run fine, except the temp gauge, once warmed up, stays on the L (in the N-O-R-M-A-L) gauge. I would probably think this would be a blown head gasket or even a cracked head (because of the over-heating) except the thermostat doesn't open until the gauge is on the A and the fans don't come on until the L. So since the stat and fans are working but just at a higher area on the gauge that they should, maybe it is the gauge or even a bad sendor I put in or maybe I wrapped the sendor in too much teflon tape and it is not making a good connection. I've seen a TSB on the gov't's web site about the temp guage reading too high, but I can't get any details about it (TSB #98166, NHTSA ID #609735).

Is this reading too high (the dealer says they all run hot - which I don't believe)?
Does anyone else have this problem?
What are the solutions?
What are the details about this TSB?

Thanks
 
My 'tour (and I think most everyone else's) has the same exact "problem" with their temperature gauge. Mine, once my car warms up, approaches the A-L, then my fan turns on. When it's cold outside it even gets to the M-A range. The actual temperature isn't too hot, the gauge just makes it look that way. If you do a search on these forums you will find many MANY posts about the same problem. :)
 
The cooling fan should come on over the M, does in both Mystiques my family has. Mine had overheated and I replaced the same parts you did. Does the temp gauge sit to the far left when the car is off? If it sits to the right, could be off calibration. The fan should trigger after thermostat opens (can see water activity in tank), and yours does. The fan will come on low speed with the A/C on, even cold engine. If it does, the low circuit is OK. Then turn off A/C and see if the same fan speed happens when it triggers at L. You can test the fan operation to see if the motors are OK: Fan topic Check if both rotate easily. The fan will run at high (noisy!) speed then low speed alternating if the engine is hot and the A/C is under load (summer day). Also, if the gauge sender has too much tape it might read lower, if it is not a Ford sender try a Ford sender.
 
FavoriteMystaque said:
The cooling fan should come on over the M, does in both Mystiques my family has. Mine had overheated and I replaced the same parts you did. Does the temp gauge sit to the far left when the car is off? If it sits to the right, could be off calibration. The fan should trigger after thermostat opens (can see water activity in tank), and yours does. The fan will come on low speed with the A/C on, even cold engine. If it does, the low circuit is OK. Then turn off A/C and see if the same fan speed happens when it triggers at L. You can test the fan operation to see if the motors are OK: Fan topic Check if both rotate easily. The fan will run at high (noisy!) speed then low speed alternating if the engine is hot and the A/C is under load (summer day). Also, if the gauge sender has too much tape it might read lower, if it is not a Ford sender try a Ford sender.
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I just had the sensor replace for my needle was pegged into the extreme red and now my guage is reading in the L when warmed up. My mechanic thinks I need a new guage. :(
 
zorrex said:
My 'tour (and I think most everyone else's) has the same exact "problem" with their temperature gauge. Mine, once my car warms up, approaches the A-L, then my fan turns on. When it's cold outside it even gets to the M-A range. The actual temperature isn't too hot, the gauge just makes it look that way. If you do a search on these forums you will find many MANY posts about the same problem. :)
Click to expand...

Yes there are MANY posts about this exact problem and about a new one done every week. Please take the time to SEARCH for your problems before posting and read all the READ ME FIRST threads. You will be amazed on how many things you will learn just by doing that.

Maybe we need a thread stickied on the temp gauge issue???
 
L is high.

L is high.

Tommy svt: The temperature gage should rest at the far left when the car is shut off. If it does,I would figure it is OK then. A new gauge isn't costly, if you don't mind removing gauge cluster. Mine survived being stuck at the far right, and unstuck, still works the same as the one in our other "never overheated" Mystique. Does your cooling fan trigger when A/C is turned on? A sticky on temp gauge/overheating would be a good idea.
 
hinrichsscott said:
I have a 1997 Ford Contour, V6, East coast, auto w/ air. ....
Is this reading too high (the dealer says they all run hot - which I don't believe)?
Does anyone else have this problem?
What are the solutions?
What are the details about this TSB?

Thanks
Click to expand...
Welcome :). Duratec V6 usually do not run hot on the gauge. If the fans come on and the reading goes down you should be fine. If the headgasket is shot, the car will not idle properly. The Zetec I-4 usually runs or shows that it runs hot. If it is not in the RED zone, don't worry about it. But make sure you coolant is half inch above max (and to the correct 50/50 or slight stronger 55/45 concentration). Did you backflush the cooling system to get all the bits and pieces of the impellar out?

Don't worry about the TSB, it is for a Zetec I-4.
 
FavoriteMystaque said:
Tommy svt: The temperature gage should rest at the far left when the car is shut off. If it does,I would figure it is OK then. A new gauge isn't costly, if you don't mind removing gauge cluster. Mine survived being stuck at the far right, and unstuck, still works the same as the one in our other "never overheated" Mystique. Does your cooling fan trigger when A/C is turned on? A sticky on temp gauge/overheating would be a good idea.
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The guage is now resting to the far left when off and is reading higher than the previous sensor before it crapped out. The fans still kick on at the same temps as before.

I read in this thread that I may need to get a Motorcraft sensor (not sure what sensor was installed by my mechanic - probably NAPA).

http://contour.org/ceg-vb/showthread.php?t=1591&highlight=guage

Searching for this issue doesn't bring up many accurate results and none of them have a sure-fix.
 
Replace waterpump unless you did already! I used a Delco with metal impeller, a Motorcraft with white plastic impeller is good too. Don't use black impeller. Try Motorcraft sender. There are two types: Motorcraft SW5046 Ford F5RZ-10884-B, which I used in my 1998 Mystique Duratec, 1 wire connection. Motorcraft SW5030 Ford F5RZ-10884-A, has a 2 pin plug on it, which was the wrong one for my car, fits newer than 1998 (IIRC.)
 
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Almost sounds like the gauge itself, the waterpump or the t stat aren't working correctly. Do the fans turn on?

My issue was the guaranteed 50k mile-mark waterpump failure. Shattered into nice bits and had to flush it out a few times to be happy I got all the pieces out.

Possible there are air bubbles in the system yet? Is there any coolant on or around the coolant reservoir?
 
FavoriteMystaque said:
Replace waterpump unless you did already! I used a Delco with metal impeller, a Motorcraft with white plastic impeller is good too. Don't use black impeller. Try Motorcraft sender. There are two types: Motorcraft SW5046 Ford F5RZ-10884-B, which I used in my 1998 Mystique Duratec, 1 wire connection. Motorcraft SW5030 Ford F5RZ-10884-A, has a 2 pin plug on it, which was the wrong one for my car, fits newer than 1998 (IIRC.)
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Waterpump and stat was also replaced last week. I should have mentioned that. The old pump was a NAPA metal blade and looked prety good when it was swapped out.
 
Flush

Flush

Has it been flushed? might have old impeller pieces restricting flow. this might be stupid, but how much crap is in the radiators fins? I would also recommend water wetter. its cheap and it works very good.
 
stalkersvt said:
Has it been flushed? might have old impeller pieces restricting flow. this might be stupid, but how much crap is in the radiators fins? I would also recommend water wetter. its cheap and it works very good.
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For me, the pump never broke. I have always been proactive on swapping it out every 60k. The radiator fins are clean, flow is good and the system has been flushed.
 
stalkersvt said:
Mine runs dead center all the time once warm. do you still have the hood liner?
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Yup hood liner is still there. My gauge ran dead center as well until the gauge sensor flaked out last week. Now it's on L after the sensor was replaced. :(

Also, last week , I asked my mechanic if he tried another sensor and he said that he tried three diffferent ones, all with the same results. I'm not sure if they were Motorcraft or not.
 
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gauge sprained?

gauge sprained?

Maybe the Guage is sprained, as in went to l, and cannot go back to the proper position? I would borrow an external digital guage, or use a meat thermomoter to manually check it.
 
stalkersvt said:
Maybe the Guage is sprained, as in went to l, and cannot go back to the proper position? I would borrow an external digital guage, or use a meat thermomoter to manually check it.
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Thanks for the advice. The mechanic thinks it's the gauge for he tested the temps with a scanner and everything is running at the proper temps.

If the gauge does get swapped out, is the white SVT overlay easy to swap over?
 
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