Engine Guage is showing Hot.

Check wiring harness to temp sensor. Conduct a voltage test on sensor using a DVOM.

I believe they are located in the intake manifold somewhere. Make sure the one that tells the computer the coolant temp is ACTUALLY giving out the correct temperature. I had a bad one one time in a 1993 Ford F-150, 5.8L....... no check engine light came on but hard to start. The bad sensor was telling the computer it was 32 degrees F when it was almost 80 degrees outside.!!
Garbage in=Garbage out.

Here is a video link from Youtube. There are 2 sensors, 1 for the guage and the other tells the on-board computer how hot/cold the coolant is. The one for the guage has 1-wire and the other one has 2 wires.
Hope this helps, ask more if you need to. What kind of problem are you having? No heat inside? Guage needle not getting into the normal area?


1997 Ford Expedition 5 4L V8 Triton Engine Coolant Temperature ECT Sensor...

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I would supect you actually have two problems going on here. First off it sounds like your guage is reading inaccuratly. When it is reading at one quarter it probably should be at the half way point. This is the normal operating range. The most likely cause is the temp sensor for the guage. When you pull a trailer and engine gets under a load the tempature sounds like its going up too high. Your engine light comes on because it uses a different sensor and is registering accurate tempature. I would start by comparing actual tempature of engine with what the guage reads, this can be done with a scanner or a heat gun pointed at the thermostat housing. I believe you will find a faulty sensor or possibly an outside chance of a bad guage.(but doubt it!)Once that is straightned out you will have to look at why is the engine getting too warm under load. I would start with radiator flow,A ristricted radiator either internally or externally will cause this. Good luck!

sounds as though you need a thermostat, it's staying open, which won't allow the engine to stay warm,...does it heat up while idling?

if you have high miles, 75k or more I would go ahead and have tempature sensor and thermostat it self change. I don't see battery cable would have any bearing to the temperature guage or cooling process. Both switch work almost the same, at time it work well other time it read or work incorrectly because it a sign of unit becoming faulty. If the temperature sensor is faulty half of the time it well give you incorrect reading however if the temp sensor working properly and the Thermostat is not, you will also get a high temp reading due to the Thermostat is not working properly allowing the hot antifreeze to flow out from the engine to the radiator which cause the hot antifreeze to be remain lock up in the engine block. Thermostat suppose to open and close when it reach its temperature; at the same time I would also replace thermostat switch which operate the cooling fan. all three tend to go bad over times; replacing all three is a great ideas. Thermostat, thermostat switch and temperature sensor.

YOUR ENGINE OPERATING RATING TEMPERATURE SUPPOSE TO BE 190 TO 200 DEGREES. IF COOLANT SENSOR DEGREES IS SHOWING 190 OR 200 DEGREES IT WORKING.THAT RIGHT.IF ITS SHOWING 60 OR 80 DEGREES IT FAULTY. AND ENGINE WILL RUN POORLY.

Given your high guage temps of 210 degrees and high ambient temperature of 100 degrees, your engine's stalling can very likely be linked to either one of these three causes: 1) vapor lock; 2) percolation; or 3) PCV malfunction. Here's a really good diagnostic article that precisely addresses this issue of yours:
http://yourhandymanzone.com/Your_Handyman_Zone_How_To_Pages_Vehicle_Car_Zone_Cars_Trucks_Vans_Engine_System_Engine_Stalls_When_Hot.htm

Hope this helps! Brad

change the themostat when you remove the old themostat you should see it stuck in the open postion . before i install the new one i fill the the block with coolant install the new stat run the mtr and heater core until hot iwould also replace the cap

My mechanic in our town did a quick computer check. Car computer indicated a low level of antifreeze, he topped it up, cleared all messages off the car computer and said to watch the the heat guage for any further irregularities. I'll keep an eye on it, love the car, great mileage fun to drive.

The fans only run when the engine reaches approxminatly 235 degrees F. on the guage that is near the end of scale just before guage show "HOT" I don't think you have a problem, allot of folks out there don't know about this.