1999 explorer temp. gauge bad?

[tfenny]

Was flushing the coolant out and the temp. gauge stopped working? Weird? Put in new temp. sender and still not working. The new sender and the old one both tested good with my ohm meter! Pulled the dash and the whole unit is sealed up and can't access the temp. gauge. Any solutions out there. Can I check the gauge by momentarily grounding it out? Maybe the connector, although it looks OK? There was lots of water, etc. spraying around everywhere in the engine compartment as I was flushing the system out. (water running out the radiator filler hitting the fan blade, etc. .) Thanks in advance for all replies! Tim

 

[bobflood]

Was flushing the coolant out and the temp. gauge stopped working? Weird? Put in new temp. sender and still not working. The new sender and the old one both tested good with my ohm meter! Pulled the dash and the whole unit is sealed up and can't access the temp. gauge. Any solutions out there. Can I check the gauge by momentarily grounding it out? Maybe the connector, although it looks OK? There was lots of water, etc. spraying around everywhere in the engine compartment as I was flushing the system out. (water running out the radiator filler hitting the fan blade, etc. .) Thanks in advance for all replies! Tim

Yes, if you ground the temp gauge wire, the needle should peg high. There are two sensors side by side - one for the gauge (one wire) and one for the PCM (two wires). Make sure you have the correct one. Also, you need to make sure that all of the air is burped out of the system. If air pockets remain, they can cluster at the top of the system where the sensors are such that the sensor isn't immersed in the coolant. Best to raise the front of the vehicle so the radiator opening is above the level of the rest of the cooling system when you are purging it.