o i KNOW they run hot. but i mean, i was PARKED and my temp gauge flew to the L in mere minutes. that has never come close to happening. the only other times ive gotten to L were in the summertime, when its 70 degrees at LEAST. it was only 50 today... :shrug:
*sigh*
search search search.
Its all over the zetec forums too. Every single pre98 zetec is exactly like that, they did that right from the factory. Ford put an extremely sensitive sending unit into the Ford Contour, How many cars have you driven that the temperature gauge more that much in that short amount of time? It seems almost physically impossible.
My old 96 did the exact same thing if you sat at a dead stand still, temp gauge would rise to L, cooling fans would kick on. I can promise you that if you turn on the A/C, which makes the cooling fans run all of the time, the engine will never go past half way up the temperature gauge. My old contour was this way, a friend of mine at school who had a pre98 zetec was this way, a guy I know here on campus at school's pre98 is way, its normal. Especially when parked, when your car is in motion, when the motor is revving up and you are going say 40 miles an hour, there is 1) a source of wind blowing at the radiator, which is exactly what the cooling fan does, except wind does it better, and two since your engine isn't at idle speed the water pump is spinning faster, so there is better circulation of the coolant, this causes increased cooling efficiency. Your cooling fans are programmed to come on at a preset safe temperature to assist the cooling system in dropping the temperature to an even safer level. I personally think ford saw this "issue" when the car rolled off the line, and to compensate, instead of putting a different sensor in, they decided to make the gauge in the cluster read "NORMAL" so that people would be like "Oh, its normal for it to do that" then they fixed it in the 98+ models so they didnt bother with printing that on the gauge.
If you are THAT worried about it, go zxtuner.com and get a 165 degree thermostat, your cooling fans will probably never turn on, Just make sure to not leave it in during the winter, or your engine will never reach normal operating temperatures.
As for your exhaust leak, if you have one, I am sorry to hear that. But unless you have a welder or a cracked exhaust manifold, there is nothing we can suggest to fix your problem around here. Your best bet is to find a reputible exhaust shop around your home town, take it there and say "I think I have an exhaust leak, please fix it" and if its as minor as you claim it to be, they probably will have the problem found and fixed in under a half an hour.
I love $100 beaters.