temp gauge. running hot 87 taurus

hey guys im tryin to help my friend with his 87 taurus with the 4 cylinder engine. i dont know anything about these cars but his problem seems very similar to the problem i had on my grand prix. his temperature gauge is reading very hot, and the fans turn on after only a few minutes of driving. within 5 minutes of driving this morning (probably aroud 45-50 degrees outside) the fans already went on and the gauge was near redline. when my car was acting up it was determined to be the coolant sensor, and to test that there was a relay to the fans i unplugged to see if they stayed on or turned off. i was wondering if there was any way to diagnose this on a taurus without a scanner, or if any of you know of another cause. thanks

The 1987 Taurus (like most Fords) uses a separate sensor for the gauge and for the cooling fan, so if both are indicating the engine's hot, it's worth looking in to.

I hope you or your friend checked the coolant level before pursuing help. Was anything done to the cooling system recently? Maybe there's an air pocket in the cooling system causing the hot indications.

The Coolant Temperature Sensor for the instrument cluster will have a single red/white to it. The Engine Coolant Temperature Sensor will have two wires, one light green/yellow and the other black/white. They will likely both be located near the thermostat housing, but I'm not positive on that.

-Rod

o alright. well he says he and his dad found the problem. it was a bad sensor. he didnt say which one. probably the gauge sensor. hopefully they actually did fix it. ill find out for sure soon and post when i find out. thanks