281Thunder
Veteran CEG'er
Ok, I've had the car for about a year now, and this is the first real time I've gotten in and worked on the engine in any way. I've worked on several other Ford engines, but I'm not really familiar with how this one is laid out, etc.
The other day, my upper radiator hose developed a split in it, just below the intake tube, and was gushing out coolant of course. I went to Advanced and they had the hose surprisingly. I swapped the hose out with no major holdups or problems (took about an hour start to finish). Of course I lost a fair amount of cooling when I took the hose off, so I topped it off with water in the reservoir (I run water and water wetter in the summer in my cars).
Upon startup, I looked at the gauge, and my temp gauge is pegged beyond the hot mark. I figured it was just an air pocket. But after squeezing hoses and raising the car and topping things off, the gauge still reads the same place...as far to the right as possible. I was running out of daylight so I figured I'd let it set until this evening.
SO...I go out this evening to check things out. I put the key in and turn it to key-on engine-off. All the typical dash lights come on as normal, and the gauges all come on...but the temp gauge is still pegged to the right. From what I know about cars, with the car sitting for 24 hours, the gauge should reset all the way to the left due to the engine being cold.
I let the car run for a while, and it seems to come up to operating temperature (what you'd expect for sitting at idle for 5 minutes). The only thing I don't get is the fans don't kick on...maybe it's just not getting warm enough. Either way, I'm afraid to drive it due to not knowing how hot it REALLY is.
Which brings me to my main question (sorry for the length). After looking at the temp sending unit (the one for the gauge)...the part where the connector slides on is loose (it kinda swivels around). When I unplug it, it goes all the way to the left, but when I hook it back up...it pegs back to the right. Am I right in thinking that the sending unit may be broke which is giving me a false sense that it's hot? There's a good chance I could've hit it with something when I was changing the hose. I mean after 5 or so minutes of running, the block/heads/etc was still cool to touch with bare hands. Everything up to this point has worked fine...no overheating...no leaks...no nothing.
Thanks and any insight is appreciated!
The other day, my upper radiator hose developed a split in it, just below the intake tube, and was gushing out coolant of course. I went to Advanced and they had the hose surprisingly. I swapped the hose out with no major holdups or problems (took about an hour start to finish). Of course I lost a fair amount of cooling when I took the hose off, so I topped it off with water in the reservoir (I run water and water wetter in the summer in my cars).
Upon startup, I looked at the gauge, and my temp gauge is pegged beyond the hot mark. I figured it was just an air pocket. But after squeezing hoses and raising the car and topping things off, the gauge still reads the same place...as far to the right as possible. I was running out of daylight so I figured I'd let it set until this evening.
SO...I go out this evening to check things out. I put the key in and turn it to key-on engine-off. All the typical dash lights come on as normal, and the gauges all come on...but the temp gauge is still pegged to the right. From what I know about cars, with the car sitting for 24 hours, the gauge should reset all the way to the left due to the engine being cold.
I let the car run for a while, and it seems to come up to operating temperature (what you'd expect for sitting at idle for 5 minutes). The only thing I don't get is the fans don't kick on...maybe it's just not getting warm enough. Either way, I'm afraid to drive it due to not knowing how hot it REALLY is.
Which brings me to my main question (sorry for the length). After looking at the temp sending unit (the one for the gauge)...the part where the connector slides on is loose (it kinda swivels around). When I unplug it, it goes all the way to the left, but when I hook it back up...it pegs back to the right. Am I right in thinking that the sending unit may be broke which is giving me a false sense that it's hot? There's a good chance I could've hit it with something when I was changing the hose. I mean after 5 or so minutes of running, the block/heads/etc was still cool to touch with bare hands. Everything up to this point has worked fine...no overheating...no leaks...no nothing.
Thanks and any insight is appreciated!
