Phantom Check Gage Overheat Warning

[Alan in AZ]

Initial Symptoms - Cruising along - all is fine then get the chime, "Check Gage" warning message and the Coolant Temp Gage is maxed out. Further warnings 'engine power reduced' (presumably cylinder shutdown) and AC goes off.

Stop the car - not apparently too hot... Turn ignition back on (within 30 secs) and temp gauge is back in normal range. Start engine & gauge stays in normal range - runs just fine.

Just happened again after ~5 days of behaving OK, I assume the coolant sensor (used for the gauge) is either faulty or has a faulty connection...

Will a single sensor cause this? is an OC connection condition sufficient for this behaviour?

Where is the coolant sensor located?

Thanks in advance

Alan

 

[rburch]

Yr/make/model would be helpful. Replace the ECT and all should be good.

 

[masterhacker]

a air bubble in the cooling system can do that. I had a 97 lumina that would do that it wasn't a air bubble, 3 shops, and 2 very knowledgeable backyard mechanic's couldn't figure it out, best they came up with was a faulty computer, of course it did have 380,000 miles so who knows

 

[Alan in AZ]

Yr/make/model would be helpful. Replace the ECT and all should be good.

Well its a Ford Expedition - I hope that's no surprise... and its a 2005 which I why I posted in the 2003-2006 forum. I assumed that this behaviour isn't really very year specific?

Where is the ECT located (Radiator? water bridge?) - I'm thinking it may also just be a connector issue - which hopefully will be obvious on inspection.

Alan

 

[rburch]

I believe it is under the intake manifold and to the front of the left cylinder head. I believe that it is easily accessed when the alternator is removed.

Sorry i never remember to look at what stuff is posted under! LOL!

 

[06_expedition]

Same thing just happened to me while towing our trailer down to Bryce Canyon, Utah. Got the chime, looked down temp max'd out, stop, turned engine off, checked under the hood, nothing too hot, started up and good to go for now. Looking forward to the drive back home on Friday when I suspect it will happen again to add to the stress of towing . This is why I joined this forum, to get answers. This helps me a lot.

 

[msquared]

Anyone figure out what causes this?

The same thing just happened to me. Had been towing on the freeway for about an hour.

Chime, red "check gage" lite, warning text & temp gauge pegged @ "H". Stopped, shut down, popped the hood and all seemed fine. Started the engine & the temp showed less than 1/2 way to "H". Only about a minute after shutting down.

I have a 2006 Eddie Bauer.

 

[wescathey]

same problem

I know this is a old post but I am having the same problem can someone please tell me what they did to fix it?

False overheating

 

[stamp11127]

Seems like one of the cures was stated in an earlier post. Keep in mind more than one cause will result in the same issue.

 

[pohoda]

This happened to me recently too. I assume ECT stands for engine coolant temperature sensor. I will search to see what is involved in changing that. Has anyone actually changed out the ECT and resolved this issue that way?

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

 

[H2omike]

Sooooooooo...ECT? my 04 just went through the exact scenario... any other root causes, or did replacing the ECT fix the problem?

 

[waldo]

Nice resurrection, OP hasn't been on here in 5 years, open up a new thread with the details of what's happening in your situation.

 

[Roger Phillips]

Didn’t see a new thread- having the same issue with my 06

 

[Adieu]

Gunk bouncing around and causing blockages maybe?

 

[pohoda]

In my case the issue came down to a bad connection in the wiring harness. Took my mechanic 12 hours to track it down as it was buried in the conduit. Mine was intermittent, but with a bad temp gauge cold starting was near impossible, A/C would not work, and engine power was much diminished. I never knew how much the computer depends on an accurate engine temp reading. If you have the 3V engine then you have to take apart the intake manifold and a bunch of other things just to get to the sensor if that is your issue. Not the best of designs really.

Good luck!