Crown Vic. Cooling issue

[russort]

I have a 2001 Crown Vic with 205K miles and running good (at least up to now). My problem is I have been noticing the coolant temperature gauge in the car to be barely registering and than again going up a bit to norman than back down. No big problem car still ran well. Yesterday it through a error up on the dash and I had Anvanced Auto read it out. It was one of those 117 errors dealin with 'coolant loops'. The guy sold me a thermostat for 15 U$D and away I went, Well nothing changed. Car appears to be at a good operating temperature, no loss of fluid and gas milage is where it always have been i.e. 22-23 highway 18-19 street. ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS. .

THANKS,
BOB RUSSO
SUN MICROSYSYTEMS, INC.
robert.russo@sun.com

PS Not sure if relevant but, I also recently lost control of the AC diverter valve behind the dash. The control head apears ok and runs that internal test fine. AC/heat work OK but only on the windshield ??

Thanks,

[mark v]

Try a new coolant temp switch.

[BroncoJoe19]

$20 for a coolent temperature sensor at autozone.

[militarydave]

yeah i guess we could try a temp sensor. mine works some times. when i warm the car up, it doesn't budge, but when i fire it up on cold days let it idle for about a minute, then go... it works fine?

i'll have to check and see if the switch does the trick or not.

let me know what you find out Bob.

-dave

[militarydave]

hey bro... mine's doing the same thing. i'll let the car warm up for about 5-6 minutes... and its still on cold. i think it may be a problem with the guage itself. i myself am not leaking coolant, nor overheating, but the gauge reads cold. i asked a ford dealer about this, they stated it could be a loose wire or something may have gotten lose in the actual dash guage/needle.

let me know what you figure out. by the way, mine's a 96 LX with 194,589k miles.

-dave

[russort]

THANKS DAVE, I am on the road constantly but will have it down this Saturday. I think I will replace the temperature sensor being that all else appears normal i.e. true temperature good, coolant fluid ok rtc. It may jsu be bad readings from the sensor. I'll let you know what happens.

Bob

[boyscout]

I would check into the cost of a new temp sending unit. It reads the coolant temp in ohms and sends the info to the ECM. They can be tested with a meter if you know the ohm range of the sending unit. The working range is usually in a service manual.