Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Emergency!!!!!

Here's what happened:

Driving back to the office about 20 minutes ago, looked down at temp gauge. The needle is past the red, just kind of laying there at the opposite end of the gauge.

Here's what I did:

1.) In parking lot, looked under hood, nothing untoward. Coolant level just fine; no leaking, no smells.

2.) Turned heat on full blast. Plenty of hot air, could hear radiator fans come on.

3.) Turned A/C on full blast. Plenty of cold air, could hear radiator fans come on.

4.) Turned ignition off, took out key. Gauge needle stayed where it was. Usually when I turn off the car, gauge needle quickly goes back the other way.

Background...

1.) Water pump replaced in Feb. with metal impellar-ed unit. I'm pretty sure it's not the wp.
2.) I posted about a week ago that I thought my temp gauge was showing cooler temps than normal; the needle was consistently hanging around N-O, where it had previously been all over the place.

So....

1.) My *guess* is that the gauge is somehow busted; not my car.

2.) Someone mentioned last week that it might be something with a temp. sending unit. Could it have just worked well right before it crapped out?

3.) Can I drive my car home? I'm thinking it's not overheating.

4.) If you guys know what it is, is it a DIY job?

I think for a trip home you should be fine. But it is nice to have the gauge to back you up.

You do have a low coolant light in the car which will alert you to a leak if you have one, the cooling fans work and the water pump is relatively new and reliable. I wouldn't worry about much just for that one trip.

As you probably well know, when the water pump fails in our Duratecs, a common symptom was no hot air through the heater. The fact that you got the heat to blow suggests to me that it is not a water pump issue. In fact, I would say that either the sending unit is bad, or the wire that leads to it is grounding out somewhere causing the "overheat" indication on your gauge.

Thanks,

That's what I needed to hear. I know all about the wp issues with the V-6; I was a victim myself. This just doesn't fit the description.

And I was just thinking the other day about how well my car was doing so well.

Check the ground connection to the guage pod, if the needle is past the red, it usually indicates that there is no power getting to that guage. Do all the dummy lights come on?

Had the same thing happen on my SE Sport recently.
The Temp Sender is a SINGLE WIRE sensor, just below the Thermostat.
If the wire is off the sender, or if the sender is cracked, it will bury the needle in the RED ZONE.
My sender was cracked.

If the wire or sender is SHORTED, it burys the needle in the BLUE.

Either way, you need a new Sender.

My new sender actually gives me a hotter than normal reading,
so I've got to figure out if the gauge is adjustable or do I just try another sender.

Well, I started it up to leave the office again, and voila! It was back to normal. The only thing I did was remove the plastic engine cover, fiddle with what looked like an ever-so-slightly loose black rubber electric plug underneath the water pump, and it was ok for two starts and shutdowns.

How much is a temp. sending unit? Easy job?

Oh, and thanks for the quick replies. Much appreciated.

I think the sending unit is about $20 and it is fairly easy to do from what everyone says