It has been the case, as long as I've been paying attention, that when my Zetec is up to normal operating temperature, the temperature gauge is straight up, between R and M, and the OBD?II ECT reading is around 190 to 195 degrees F. On my way to work this morning, I noticed that the gauge is barely making it up to N, but the OBD?II reading is still in the 190s. Obviously, the ECT sensor is working fine, but something is wrong with the gauge, or something leading to it. What should I be looking for?
Is it possible that I correctly remember hearing/reading somewhere that there are actually two coolant temperature sensors, that one feeds the gauge on dashboard, while the other feeds the PCM (which would be the reading I get via OBD?II)? Looking under the hood, I was able to find one apparent ECT sensor. If there's a second one, where would it be? I suppose something I should try is doconnecting the one ECT sensor that I've found, and then looking to see if both, or only one of the two readings (the dashboard gauge and the OBD?II ECT reading) are affected.
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Moonlight Blue 1996 Mercury Mystique GS , Zetec engine, ATX. No mods. (Well, OK, one mod. Before I got rid of my previous car, a 1994 Tempo, I swapped radios. I liked the Tempo's radio better. That counts as a mod, doesn't it? I also kept one of my Tempo's wheels to use as a spare. I hate those stupid ?compact? spares that come with modern cars. Does this count as a mod? If so, I guess I have two mods. Replaced burned/melted blower switch and connector on 19 February 2002 with a 1P3T toggle switch from Marvac and a Molex connector from Rat Shack; I guess this now makes three mods.)
