when i first got my tour new, (zetec btw) it never would go past the M, then slowly after each year, it would continue to get higher and closer to the red. it was running in the A-L last summer until I replaced the thermostat. now it rarely goes over the R w/ the a/c running. before it was replaced, I had it on the obd-II scanner and even though the temp gauge was high, the coolant temp was right around 200. I just think that ford's coolant gauges aren't accurate. If they were, they would have put temp (numbers) instead of NORMAL.... just my .02 though.
:p
