A friend of mine has a 1994 Escort, 1.9L in which the water heating gauge is near the top of the gauge. The car has been seen three times with the thermostat being replaced three times. The water pump is work - water is flowing through the system. And the gauge seems to be okay. Any suggestions what might be wrong.
There might be a blockage elsewhere in the system, or possibly the temperature sending unit is bad.
Could also be a head gasket issue.
Are there any other strange things going on; even if they don’t appear to be related?
Do the cooling fan(s) work? Has anyone measured the ACTUAL temperature of the coolant?
The engine may not really be running too hot if the coolant temperature sender or the gauge is faulty.
Someone needs to determine the real temperature of the engine.
[b]Your friends car is at the age where a restricted radiator could be the problem. The radiator can look fine on the outside, but over time sediment can form inside the radiator causing a reduction in coolant flow. And this can cause the engine to run hotter than normal.
This can be checked by pointing a laser thermal gun at the cores of the radiator while the engine running and hot. Those cores that are shown to be cooler than other cores are the ones with the restriction because little or no coolant is flowing thru them.
Tester[/b]