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I have a 98 Ford Escort with the 2.0 engine in it with 155xxx miles on it. I am currently trying to figure out why my cooling fan wont kick on and after using a wiring diagram I found out that one of the things that kicks it on is the coolant temp sensor. So I was able to get a really good deal on one (5$) I figured why not replace it, can’t hurt. So I replaced it and then put everything back together and then took it for a drive. Now my temp gauge won’t go up to normal operating temp. I drove it around for about 15 miles and it never got to the normal operating temp. It ran just fine just stayed about and inch below where its supposed to be. I am wondering if maybe I have a bad sensor or could this be a thermostat problem (because I have never changed mine) that just happened at a bad time? I do have a new thermostat that I will probably change tomorrow to see but I kinda want to know what you guys think.
Thanks!
P.S Before I replaced the part I drove it around today and it got to normal temp. I drove back and forth from work with no problems; this only happened when I replaced the sensor.
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Ok so I’m not on my computer right now but your ’98 2.0 Escort should be like my ’96 2.0 Contour- on your thermostat housing you have a sensor on both the top and bottom. The one on the bottom is a two wire sender that drives the temp gauge, to test this you’ll need a jump wire jump one wire to ground and flip the key on for a sec if the gauge does not go up jump the other side of the sensor to ground and go again (do NOT let the gauge peak)
If the gauge works it will go full hot, if not get a new Motorcraft sender as the after market gauges for the 2.0 read WAY to hot.For the fan issue I would start by flipping your A/C on max- if you have two cooling fans they should now be on if the they are good and your high speed relay & circuit is good.
You can also jump power to the fan and make sure it spins up that way.
Try that and get back to us, I’ll see if I can help more when I’m on my computer.Ya when mine went out I picked one up a WB sending unit for pretty cheap- when I installed it it was running in the red when the ECU was still showing normal operating temps on the highway. Some research over on contour.org told me this was a common problem on the 2.0L Zetec… they either read hot or don’t work. 😳
[quote=”Oishii” post=33211]Ok so I’m not on my computer right now but your ’98 2.0 Escort should be like my ’96 2.0 Contour- on your thermostat housing you have a sensor on both the top and bottom. The one on the bottom is a two wire sender that drives the temp gauge, to test this you’ll need a jump wire jump one wire to ground and flip the key on for a sec if the gauge does not go up jump the other side of the sensor to ground and go again (do NOT let the gauge peak)
If the gauge works it will go full hot, if not get a new Motorcraft sender as the after market gauges for the 2.0 read WAY to hot.For the fan issue I would start by flipping your A/C on max- if you have two cooling fans they should now be on if the they are good and your high speed relay & circuit is good.
You can also jump power to the fan and make sure it spins up that way.
Try that and get back to us, I’ll see if I can help more when I’m on my computer.[/quote]Great post. I also start with the cooling fans when doing the diagnosis. Turning on the AC is a great way to start. If they still don’t come on or only one comes on I then continue my testing by running direct power and ground to the fans themselves, this way I know if they CAN work. Most of this is actually covered in a recent video that I did.
Ok, So im not concerned about the fan in this post because I have another post going on for that. So I put the new sensor in and the temp gauge would not go up to normal temp. So I thought that maybe it was just the sensor. I used a little permnex on the old one and put it back in. Drove it around for 20 minutes and got the same thing. So I do own the dealer manual for my car and I looked up what to do if the temp doesn’t reach normal and it says to check the thermostat(which I have a new one to put in just haven’t done it). I am worried that this is not that actual problem. Because before I put the new sensor in I did not have this problem, it always got up to normal temp. So I am wondering what the problem is. Could changing the sensor ( which is right behind the thermostat) effect a worn thermostat to get stuck open or something? I am also worried that I might be getting a incorrect reading. From what I can tell the sensor is working but since I do a lot of driving and the fan doesn’t work I am worried about blowing my head gasket.
I am attaching two pictures. One is how high the temp gauge goes now,and the second one is a picture of the connector to the coolant sensor.
I am not sure if this is broke or how its supposed to be but it only has one wire. There isn’t a wire dangling or anything and this is how it was when I first took it off so I know I didn’t rip it off.
It has one wire because it is a thermistor.
Look in your FSM and see how your temp gauge is wired. If it is a 1 wire gauge, you may be bale to provide it a ground and the gauge should read full.
Again, check a wiring diagram and see how that circuit operates first.
You may also have a temp switch as well as a ECT (engine coolant temp sensor) on that vehicle. Usually the ECT are a 2 wire NCT or PCT design.
I changed one but did not change the other. Is this something I should try? Could this be the problem? I have not been home yet so I have not gotten a chance to give the temp sensor a ground and try that. Would the Engine temp sensor have a different name? I was trying to find the part on Rock Auto but its only showing
here is what it looks like,The Rock Auto info says that it has “Temp Sender, ECT Sensor”
when I do a search all i find is the temp sensor. So is there another name or something that I should be looking for?
I do know off the top of my head that both of the sensor’s have different connectors so they are not just the same thing with different wires.It seems that you need the temp sensor that controls the fan. Not the one that controls the gauge. That temp gauge reading looks fine to me.
Anytime you open the cooling system for service you need to purge the air from the system, if not air can get trapped which can cause all kinds of issues including improper engine temp readings.
I went home and over the weekend tackled this problem, After grounding the sensor and it working like it should I took off the housing and this is what I found
Im not sure of when I took of the sensor it broke the whole thing apart or something but for what ever reason this is what happened after I changed the sensor and what was causing all the problems.
Thanks for all the help guys!
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