imwally

Okay I just bought a 2000 cougar V6 and the temp gauge seems to be having issues. The problem is my wife drove it around today for about 5 miles and the temp gauge was normall and then just went to zero. I have searched on here but did not see anything. However I did find things on changing the Coolant Temperature Sensor and the thermostat. But I am not sure that will fix the issue. SO I am hoping someone on here might be able to help. Thanks

jwko

Sounds like a bad temp sensor to me

imwally

update:
Okay not really knowing much about it I took off when I got home and drove it a little bit. Stoped at a shop that still had a bay door open (but they were closed) and talk to one of them and they put the hand held machine on it and he said the temp of the engine was sitting at 195-198. Then he started it up and it started going down. He had it on there for about 5 min with the engine off/on. So he is telling me he would say it is the gauge itself. Now does anyone have any idea how I can check that? He said I should be able to put an aftermarket one on it but I can not see a real good place to mount one.

jwko

I would change out the temp sending unit (sensor) first and see if that helps.

imwally

Thanks for the info. I have looked for manual for the car but can not seem to find one. Would you have a link or something to show me where it is at? Thanks for the replies, it looks like the section does not get a lot of traffic.

jwko

I couldn't find a diagram for the V6.




The sending unit is located on the thermostat housing on the 2.0L engine and on the water crossover tube on the 2.5L engine.


1.Disconnect the negative battery cable.
2.On the 2.5L engine, remove the air cleaner-to-throttle body hose.
3.Disconnect the sending unit electrical harness.
4.Drain the engine coolant below the level of the switch.
5.Remove the sending unit from the engine using the proper size socket (Usually an 11 / 16 inch or 17mm).

To install:

1.Coat the new sending unit with Teflon® tape or electrically conductive sealer.
2.Install the sending unit and tighten to 62-89 inch lbs. (7-10 Nm) on the 2.0L engine and 13-18 ft. lbs. (18-24 Nm).
3.Attach the sending unit-s electrical connector.
4.Fill the engine with coolant.
5.Start the engine, allow it to reach operating temperature ,bleed the cooling system and check for leaks.
6.Check for proper sending unit operation.

imwally

Well it was an easy swap but that did not fix the issue...so I just went and bought a temp gauge and that will work for now.