1997 Contour GL Zetec Engine.
The other day I was driving to a friends house when I noticed my temperature gauge was burried all the way to the right in the red hot zone. I immediately turned the hot air on full blast. As soon as I did this the temperature gauge quickly dropped to the middle in between the letters "M-A" I kept the air on and drove to my destination. When I was driving back everything was normal.
Today on the way back from a meeting I noticed the needle pegged to the red zone again. I was on the expressway only a couple miles from my home. I quickly turned on the hot air and the needle stayed buried. I pulled off the road, waited for about 20 25 minutes and then started to head home. The car needle never moved since.
I thought it was my fans because I don't notice them turning on at all. Even when I turn on the cold air or hot. I read through several posts to diagnose this problem. Here's what I did. I jumped both the lowspeed and highspeed fan relays, both worked perfectly. I tested the actual relays with a 9 volt battery (both clicked as it should)
I was confused so I moved on to testing the temperature gauge sender. It was really difficult to access (because of all the hoses) but I noticed that the actual plastic around the plug is cracked. I'm assuming this is part of my problem. I do know that the actual sensor is fine becuase I just replaced it about 2 months ago.
Any suggestions for me? The needle stays burried right, even when I unplugged that sensor. (Maybe I didn't do something right) I'm really confused as to what's happening here.
The other day I was driving to a friends house when I noticed my temperature gauge was burried all the way to the right in the red hot zone. I immediately turned the hot air on full blast. As soon as I did this the temperature gauge quickly dropped to the middle in between the letters "M-A" I kept the air on and drove to my destination. When I was driving back everything was normal.
Today on the way back from a meeting I noticed the needle pegged to the red zone again. I was on the expressway only a couple miles from my home. I quickly turned on the hot air and the needle stayed buried. I pulled off the road, waited for about 20 25 minutes and then started to head home. The car needle never moved since.
I thought it was my fans because I don't notice them turning on at all. Even when I turn on the cold air or hot. I read through several posts to diagnose this problem. Here's what I did. I jumped both the lowspeed and highspeed fan relays, both worked perfectly. I tested the actual relays with a 9 volt battery (both clicked as it should)
I was confused so I moved on to testing the temperature gauge sender. It was really difficult to access (because of all the hoses) but I noticed that the actual plastic around the plug is cracked. I'm assuming this is part of my problem. I do know that the actual sensor is fine becuase I just replaced it about 2 months ago.
Any suggestions for me? The needle stays burried right, even when I unplugged that sensor. (Maybe I didn't do something right) I'm really confused as to what's happening here.