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98 contour 2.0 Zetec, overheating?

J

jakemeister

New CEG'er
Joined
Sep 24, 2008
Messages
21
Location
Toronto
:help:
OK, I just bought a 98 Coutour 2.0L with 90,000 miles (150 kms), literally near mint condition, 1 owner.
Had it one day, and the steering rack let go?
Just got that replaced, and picked it up, and now when sitting in traffic, the temp gauge starts climbing almost out of the Normal area.
Ended up putting the heater on full, to get the temperature down?
Is there someway to check if the cooling fan is working, or any other suggestions what it might be, or that I can check?
I have looked at the connections and they look correct?

Thanks in advance for the help!
Cheers, Jake.
 
if you have access to a obdII scanned watch the coolant temp real time, chances are its fine, but check it out.
 
on the 95-98 zetec contours Ford used an overly sensitive temperature sending unit, the gauge would move from "R to L" in the matter of a few seconds while sitting at a stop light... Generally the gauge will go SLIGHTLY above "L" then the Low speed fans will come on and drop the temperature back down to the "R" or "M" area this is totally fine, if you dont like it, some people like to replace the IAT sensor with something aftermarket which will send different information to the gauge cluster but will continue to turn the low speed fan on at the same engine temperature.

You will probably also find that the gauge will climb while sitting at a stop light, but as soon as you gain some speed the gauge will drop back down to the "R" on normal, like I said this is entirely Normal. Ford corrected this issue on the later Zetec contours, 99 and 2000 had this oversight fixed. my 99 always chilled right in the middle on the temp gauge, but my Pre98 would do just what I stated above.
 
Thanks for the info!

Thanks for the info!

Hi all:

Thank you very much for the info, I will keep an eye, to be sure that it does not go out of the (normal) zone.

I am going to replace the drive belt anyway as the existing one is a little cracked and shiny.

This place is great for assistance!

Cheers, Jake.
 
Follow up

Follow up

I was reading through some other posts, and tried the A/C on, to see if the Fans come on, and yes they both operate when the A/C is on, even jiggling the connections, so no short.
Could it then be that the temperature sensor may not be switching them on earlier?
Just seems to get to the end of the normal, and almost to the red section.
just don't want to cook the engine.

Thanks again, Jake
 
just get one of those obdII scanners with live data from Crappy Tire for 100-ish or less.

Chances are that you're fine, mine goes on L and above often, and if I'm sitting in traffic, going 5 km/h, I turn the AC on and the engine cools right down, with the low speed fan.

I found a trick to start the high speed fan but you'll get a CEL sooner or later. If you disconnect the IAT sensor with the motor running, the high speed fan kicks in automatically and cools your engine down quickly; you'll get a CEL saying that the temperature sensor is not operating properly/ no reading.

Not only that mine shows L and above, sometimes the gauge ceases to work, symptom which you'll overcome sooner or later also.
 
mine chills on the L when stopped in traffic. i actually got the owner to drop the price of the car when i bought it because i thought it had an overheating problem, come on here to find its normal :D
 
Thank you!

Thank you!

Thank you for all the replies!

I guess I will just get used to the higher than normal temperature of the Zetec.

Cheers, Jake.
 
jakemeister said:
Thank you for all the replies!

I guess I will just get used to the higher than normal temperature of the Zetec.

Cheers, Jake.
Click to expand...

well if the gauge is going above the brackets that say "normal" and not kicking on the fan, then something is wrong, dont let the car overheat knowingly man.

Chances are your issue is the coolant temperature sensor, when your coolant hits a certain temperature that sensor sends a signal to the fans to start up the low speed fans to bring the temp of the coolant back down to a safer temperature, one of my friends at work had this same issue; he would drive the car all summer with the A/C on and the car's temp never went above half, then it started cooling off, he turns the a/c off and whenever in town driving the temp would start to go higher and higher, until it was too hot.

I suggested replacing the coolant temperature sensor, showed him the part on autozone's website, he replaced it himself; then thanked me the next day because it resolved the issue.
 
Thank you Alias!

Thank you Alias!

That is exactly what i was looking for!

I just wasn't sure what to check, or what controlled the fans.

I will change out the Coolant Temp sensor tomorrow.

Thanks again for the help, I really appreciate it!

Jake.
 
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