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Tempature Gauge not working

I

IH-Warranty

New CEG'er
Joined
Mar 19, 2007
Messages
9
Location
Northern Kentucky
Ok another cooling system problem.

Previously the water pump belt broke on my sons car causing it to run hot. After the water pump belt was replaced & the car alarm was disabled. I got the car running but noticed the temp guage was staying pegged out on Hot even with the car off.

Is this most likely a sensor problem or could there be another issue :confused: . All suggestions welcome. :help:


95 Mercury Mystique
2.5 V6.
Manual Tranny
With A/C
 
it it goes right into the red when you turn the car on it is the sensor or wiring.

if it goes there as the car warms up I would suspect the water pump ...
 
Had the same thing happen to me. Water pump died, car overheated really bad, replaced the water pump and temp gauge was still pegged! I bet its the sensor, cheap fix too!
 
JJames said:
Had the same thing happen to me. Water pump died, car overheated really bad, replaced the water pump and temp gauge was still pegged! I bet its the sensor, cheap fix too!
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That's what I need on this car right now is a cheap fix. I bought this car a year and a half ago for my son & he has put almost $1300 into it so far. :mad:

Thanks for the reply.
 
My temperature gauge only works if I am sitting at a stop after it has been running for a while, like in traffic or at a light. As soon as I start to accelerate, it goes back down. Has ever since I have owned the car. Any thoughts?
 
starein2myeyes said:
My temperature gauge only works if I am sitting at a stop after it has been running for a while, like in traffic or at a light. As soon as I start to accelerate, it goes back down. Has ever since I have owned the car. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...


might try a new temp sender for the dash guage, I hear they are not to expensive. also if you have never changed the thermostat or coolant that would be good to do also as maybe the thermostat is stuck open and the engine can't build any heat.
 
i had a subaru once where an accident-damaged temperature sensor (shorted to zero ohms) damaged the temp meter in the dash.

mike
 
IH-Warranty said:
It's in the red with the ignition off & never moves whether the engine is on or not.
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resurrecting this thread as my husband has this problem on his SVT as of last night and I started searching for possible threads as all fuses checked out ok.

We thought the car overheated so bad that the gauge was stuck all the way to the right -- took the damned dash apart today after work and pushed the gauge back down to the left and watched it travel without getting stuck when I played with the needle.. figured all was good again.

long story short - put the entire dash back together and attempted to test drive it - turned the key without even starting the car and the gauge immediately travelled past the red (hot) area.

Where exactly is this sensor?

I work at RockAuto so are any of the following preferred replacements? If not, what should I order from Bill Jenkins?

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/x,carcode,1304019,parttype,2188

Thanks in Advance..

Christina
 
No need to go too far for this part as it is cheap just about anywhere you get it. NAPA, O'reilly's, AutoZone should all have it for less than 30 bucks. It is the Temperature Guage Sending unit. It is located right under the upper radiator hose as it enters the coolant distribution housing. Very easy to get to and very easy to replace. Have towels handy though...
 
ok, so I picked up both a new temp sender and sensor... I was able to find the sender myself and easily replace that but any tips on where the hell that sensor is located?

I looked in my Chilton Manual too and its just vague as hell from the top view.. I traced the hose from the radiator to the cross over and the water pump but I'm just not easily seeing anything.. is this a tear down to get to or what?

nothing I see looks like the harness area sticking out by comparing what the replacement looks like..

thanks again in advance.
 
It's not hard to replace. When I did mine last month, I just removed the air inlet tube to gain access. Small hands could probably do it without that step.

I'll go take a pic and post it in a bit.
 
thanks.. much appreciated... :)

again, I already did the sender with ease but the gauge is still climbing noticeably faster than it should so I think I need to swap the sensor next to determine if its something else or not.. (water pump was replaced to metal impeller prior to us buying the car but I think it was long ago)

The man hates cars and wrenching on them so I need to do this myself or it will never get fixed. I swear he's my "wife" at times. LOL
 
Check the wire coming from the sending unit. As you have seen, it is near the belt. It could easily have been damaged.
 
thanks that was very helpful! for some reason I was thinking it was going to be much further forward closer to the radiator and before the sender that I already changed..

I'm assuming thats another one that will spill coolant all over the place when removed..


And if that doesnt stop the tempature gauge from climbing into the red during normal operation then I assume the next step is replacing the water pump?
 
Suba Blu said:
..And if that doesnt stop the tempature gauge from climbing into the red during normal operation then I assume the next step is replacing the water pump?
Click to expand...
Turn on the heater when car is warmed up. If the air coming out is hot, the water pump is fine. If the air coming out is warm, the WP is broken.

Two other things could be radiator fan not coming on, or thermostat not opening.
 
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