I have a 3.8 Taurus wagon ( Automatic T.) I started my car in the morning for work and drove about 5 blocks. As luck would have it I looked down at the temp gauge just in the nick of time and saw the needle go from normal to the extreme right of the meter, Hot. I mean it was just 2 seconds as it quickly moved from Normal to past the Hot point.
I pulled over and stopped the car. I could not see anything wrong or any water leaking anywhere.
I then decided to drive it back home to investigate further. I took it home and tried to open the rad to see if there was water in it but there was too much pressure and a little burped out. I closed it back up not wanting to leak all my anti freeze. It seemed strange frankly that after 5 or 6 minutes that there would be any sufficient pressure to do this but I really don't know. I waited for the car to cool down and then opened the rad. And accept for a little water that I lost the last (a cup) time it was full.
I decided to drive it to my mechanic near where I work. However after as I drove it didn't happen again. So I just went to work which is a good 8-10 miles in stop and go traffic. The temperature seemed to be normal.
Has anyone got any ideas what might be wrong. And perhaps answer these two questions as well.
- I dont think it can be the thermostat. If it was open or even closed, the symptom of the gauge suddenly going from cool or normal to hot in a matter of seconds doesn't make sense.
- Can anyone tell me if the temperature sensor in this car is at about 10 O'clock of the thermostat housing?? It has two wires going to it. Is this the thermostat sensor ? If not where is it? The manual I have shows where the sensor is on the 3.0 but the 3.8 doesn't seem to be the same. Could this be the problem.
Thank you.
7willie