Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting '95 V6 running hot but not overheating

So, I just picked up this car last week, so cheap I practically stole it. 95 Mystique GS, V6 auto, 115k mi. It had a busted temperature gauge, and the owner thought it was overheating- it's not. Here's what's up...

Put a brand new temperature sending unit on the car. This fixed the temperature gauge problem. But, it's running hot. Pointing at either the A or the L in Normal, depending on how hard I've been running it.

I put a new thermostat in it and flushed the radiator. It didn't change a thing.

I'm fairly certain the car has no head gasket issues, as no matter how hard I run it it will not go above the L. I live in the Appalachians, and can take the car up a mountain at 75 with my foot to the floor the entire time, and the needle will creep from the A to the L but go no higher- and rapidly drops back to the A after I ease up on the throttle.

I'm not smelling any coolant. Coolant tank is full, and the coolant is circulating. Can't see any coolant leaks. Water pump looks good, no seepage or wobble in the pulley. No steam from under the hood. No water or smoke from the tailpipe. Heater blasts hot, but running it has no effect on the temp gauge. The engine runs smooth as silk, with plenty of power. No coolant in the oil. No oil in the coolant. Cooling fans kick on as the needle hits the M.

Any suggestions? I can't find a thing wrong with this car, and this temperature problem is driving me nuts!

I sure cannot answer your question, but just curious where everyone elses temperature needle rests at say highway speed for normal trips, example 30-45 mins. My temperature needle never even touches the M , even under rediculous and insane driving conditions. Perhaps its the good ole coolant brand, doubt it. So for you to be at L is unheard of to me, but interesting what others experiences with this are~

Plug in a scanner and read what the engine temp is from the EEC. It tells the EEC when to turn the fans on/off and High speed. If all of this is OK the gauge may be damaged. Other things - thermostat not opening all the way or the water pump is on the way out. I've seen 2 of them with slipping impellors.

Would the scanners for rent at Autozone do this? Really don't want to drop a ton of cash on a scanner I'll hardly ever use.

It will have to have an active readout - not just a code reader.

95 is not OBD-II computer so a scanner will not read the sensors unless it's the ford dealer factory unit. Sounds like the low speed fan is out and it is cycling on the high speed fan limit point. try jumpering the los speed fan relay in teh aux fuse box and see if it turns on. Also 95 is subject to a recall for cracking wire harness so the underhood wiring could be the problem with the fan.

"95 is not OBD-II computer so a scanner will not read the sensors unless it's the ford dealer factory unit."

Actron CP9150 will read OBD-I (1995 and older).
"The CP9150 Kit includes additional cables to retrieve codes and live data for 1984-95 Ford and GM models and 1989-95 Chrysler applications." www.actron.com

"Also 95 is subject to a recall for cracking wire harness so the underhood wiring could be the problem with the fan."
Underhood Wiring Harness is a 10 year/100K mile Customer Satisfaction Extended Warranty.
http://www.contour.org/FAQ/recall/99M03/

I have a '97 Contour v4. The temperature gauge is between R an d M at speeds 50 and above. At low speeds and stop-and-go traffic the needle goes between A and L, but never crosses L.
I think it is related to coolant level, I got coolant flushed three months ago and now the level has droped to minimum. Probably a coolant leak.

BTW why does the coolant drop to minimum level but never goes beneath the minimum level ?

regards,

Thanks Tony ! Got the coolant tester, wierd instrument. The O'rielly guy told that if four balls are suspended, your coolant is good. That was true, the coolant made four balls suspended. However, there was no change in Gauge readings, between M and A on highway speeds and between A and L in stop and go traffic.

BTW ford cars are tough, I realized that I might have driven 1000 miles on low coolant. My friend's Ford taurus has done about 15K miles with coolant under minimum, and is still running strong. To add to that this is all in Texas summer. Last summer we used the same car with low coolant to evacuate for the Hurricane in the crawling traffic.

regards,