Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Zetec Maintenance Cooling and temp guage problems...

Car is a 96 Mystique GS with the 2.0 Zetec in it. First off the temp guage only works about half of the time. Sometimes it will move. Other times it won't. Is this a problem with these cars and how expensive is this to fix. Is it the guage itself or the sending unit? I'm suspecting the guage myself but i'm uncertain. Also the radiator fan isn't turning on at all. I have a small leak in the system somewhere and haven't been able to pinpoint it. But one day when the guage actually worked it was pushing the L when normally its always right in the middle. The fan never came on. Only time i can get it to turn on it when A i unplug the sensor by thermostat or B i turn on the defrost. So here lately when we are in town and driving slow i make sure its on defrost that way the fan is on. I know the fan is working so it has to be a sensor but which one? I haven't gotten a book for this car yet so i guess i could start there. Whats a good book to get and please don't tell me Chilton's... bleh those suck for no matter what car its for So ya anyone that might be able to help me out it would be greatly appreciated... I'm mainly into VW's and found this link over at VWVortex.com one day while i was there. We just bought this car back in April and so far its been real reliable. I wanted the V6 but unfortunately we couldn't find one but this 2.0 will get up and move so its all good

Ford Factory Service Manual is a good book, get it on ebay cheap.

I just went though the same thing with a 1998 Contour. I attacked the sender as I thought easier than the guage.

I replaced the sending unit and now it works fine. I believe you will find 2 sending units, one on top of the thermostat block and one underneath the radiator hose outlet on the same block. The one below goes to the guage.

What I did was to let the engine sit over night, take the top hose off and then remove the sender. You loose a little antifreeze, but I caught it in a drip pan, filtered it (using a paint strainer) and put it back.

Note, I found out the hard way that there are 2 different senders used on 98 cars, 97 should be okay but physically match it up before you take it out. Cost was under $15 at local parts store - don't know what Ford gets.

You also have to be careful when screwing it in. I think the block is a plastic type material and you could crack it of you screw it in too far (tapered thread). Someone else in the forum could elaborate.

CZ

Thanks for the replies... anyone else car to elaborate on anything. I'm assuming the sending unit on top of the tstat housing is the one that controls when the cooling fan turns on and shuts off guess i can just get both of those sending units and do it all in one shot. And thanks for the info on the service manual... already have one coming

While you are in there...change to a 180 deg thermostat

A resistor in the low speed fan circuit can burn out and keep the low speed unit from working. There could also be a wiring problem, or a relay problem.

What is the stock tstat temp. I had to change that this summer cause the damn thing stuck shut on me. Didn't even ask them what temp it was just told them i wanted stock.

would my throttle stick be attributed to a bad Thermostat?

no the 2 are not even related... throttle sticking i would say clean the throttle body or buy a new cable as the one now might be frayed and sticking in certain spots...

I know there is a recall for a faulty wire, but I've recently checked and my car isn't on that TSB.