I've recently swapped from a pinto to a zetec. Using the pinto dash, and pinto water temp sender.

The Zetec idles around the middle, between the O and R of NORM. But as soon as I take it for a run it goes up to the top of the N. Only taken it out for a few minutes at a time.

Does this sound right for a Zetec - ie. should they run hotter than the pinto did.

If so what kind of temps should I expect? I have a smiths telemetrix gauge somewhere which would give me a more accurate temp rather than a letter on the pinto gauge.

Where is the temp sensor located?

It's in the plastic termostat housing. I had to earth it as it looks like the original earthed through the engine block. But it works OK, just runs hot, or reads hot. Not sure which at this point!

Zetecs do run hot - around 92ºC is fairly normal - best use a gauge with degrees on though - or try one of the hand held Infrared temp gauges to check.

Had a similar problem going from xflow to pinto. Changed radiator to 3 tube aluminium, used fan to suck through radiator rather than blow and a 87-82 fan switch. Stays around 90 degrees at all speeds now. Temp gauge not accurate, more of an indicator but good enough.

[Edited on 13/9/16 by benchmark51]