Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting high temp. reading on zetec

the 61,ooo mile atx mystique runs at the high end of the "normal" part of the gauge. after taking an actual gauge reading of 210 degrees, the cooling fans turn on and run until about 200 degrees and then stop and the gauge reads between the "a"and "l" of the gauge. is this a normal reading and if not, what can be done to get a more comfortable reading?

My zetec always run in those temp ranges, when im on the highway moving along it reads in the M area.

thanks for the quick answer. some customers want to buy this car tomorrow and now i have to convince them this is ok. your responce helps. thanks again.

tommy daugherty
"it is easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission" :p

All zetecs run on the hot side of the temp gague. In between A & L is normal. The fan will always kick in when the gague is in the middle of the "L" and turn off at "A" and the temp will go down a little more almost to "M" while at idle .

Interesting note - The zetec runs "hotter" in the winter . And it runs cooler in the summer ! Do not know why ? You would think it would be the opposite . And the fan does not run any more in the summer than the winter. Starsky_distributor

Actually, it seems to be more prevelant in 95-97 contours than 98-00. My 99 barely gets to half way when it is completely warm.

I heard that too !!!

It think it's true...

The oldies are HOTTER !!!

My 96 'tour with a TON of miles on it just recently went from the M to A and L and sometimes past L. Weather has no effect...coolant has no effect ... oil changes have no effect.

I'm so confused.

Someone made a point in an earlier thread that if Ford were able to manufacture uniform quality temp sensors, you'd see numbers there instead of the N-O-R-M-A-L letters

I replaced the temp sensor when it went wrong, and the new one reads always higher than the old one did - and I don't think anyhting else has been changed on the car :p

Still in the 'NORMAL' range though.


Tivadar

heh, since mine doesnt have anything on it except the temps, mine is always below the middle of the gauge, no matter what...

And to throw another twist into the mix, mine used to read at about the M while moving and go up to the A/L when sitting at idle, then go back down once moving again. I replaced the thermostat last summer and before I changed the gauge faces to the BNM ones, it never went any higer than the R at idle and sat at the O most of the time. Of course, sometimes the gauge won't even register or will die and not read at all, so it could be the sending sensor has gone bad causing this to happen...