Overheating Problem in 2002 Taurus

I have a 2002 Ford Taurus (3.0 L FI) and I am having trouble with the coolant system. On the way home from work the engine light came on and made the cars power drop about 50%. The light would blink for a few minutes and then go off. The car then had regular power for about 10 seconds. this cycle just repeats. when I got home and opened the hood, the radiator recovery tank cracked and coolant ran out. it was extremely hot. The weird thing is that even though it had obviously overheated, the gauage never showed it. even after putting more water in the car still has the light that comes on and drains power. The only thing I have done to the car recently is change the thermostat. Is it possible to overheat that way if you put the thermostat in backwards? When I put it in, it was still winter, and yesterday it was 100 degrees. Please help.

Sounds like your cooling fans have been cycling (both fans at once) to try and keep your radiator cool. This would attribute to the loss in power, especially with the vulcan engine which is weak to begin with. You could be overheating if the thermostat is in backwards too. But if your gauges didn't show an overheat or rise in temperature, the temp sensor may be bad as well, though I would have thought this would throw a code or a check engine light.

The check engine light did come on. It would come on for about 5 minutes and then go off for about 8-10 seconds and power was normal though brief. It seemed to me like the engine was going into some kind of safe mode. Now the coolant recovery tank has a crack where coolant leaks out. However, the check engine light stays on all the time now. You are correct in the motor being weak. It is weak to start with and when the light comes on it is really weak. Max speed of about 60 or so with the light on. Do you know where the temp sensor is located at and how do I test it? Thanks in advance.

First thing you need to do like today is get the code and see what's happening so you can take the next step.. don't overheat it again, you don't want to trash the motor... I would suggest, if you're planning on keeping the car or it doesn't really matter, everyone needs to buy an obdII reader that has generic and brand-specific code-reading,, costs about the same as taking your wife out to dinner, one less dinner, a handy tool for you, she'll understand, you can spend some quality time together reading the instruction booklet, anyways cooling systems aren't that hard to diagnose, either blockage and or failed parts, some will be obvious.. did you check the thermostat before you installed it?? Should always do it, easy to do... I'm not sure if your model year uses that little jiggly thing, if yes it goes in one way only. of course as the other poster mentioned, install it flowing the right way.. was your gauge reading correctly before it overheated?? Maybe lower then normal?? Was there enough coolant put in the car after you did the thermo??? If the gauge sender is not immersed in the coolant, it can't read correctly. Maybe there was a lot of air in the system, but not enough to cause an issue on a winter day.. was the heater blowing hot air as normal.. just some ideas.

The loss of power and blinking Check Engine Light (CEL) may mean the PCM/ECM detected a severe overtemp condition. I'm not positive that the Taurus incorporates the cylinder head temperature sensor like the Lincoln LS. On the LS, the engine can start to use a couple of cylinders as a heat pump rather than for power to help cool the engine. There should be a section on this in your owner's manual if your car does this as well.

The blinking CEL indicates a serious condition and you are instructed to drive to the nearest shop and park the car before further damage occurs.

Your Taurus has two coolant temp sensors, one that is the sending unit for the instrument cluster guage, and one that is for the cooling fan and the PCM. If the car got as hot as you suspect, most likely either your cooling fan is not working and/or the thermostat is in backwards. To contribute to the boil over, if the cooling system is not able to maintain the proper pressure, the coolant will not provide the proper anti-freeze and boil over protection.

If for some reason the water pump is not working either due to an issue with the belt or pulley, or if the impeller is bad, that would prevent the cooling system from being able to circulate the coolant in the radiator efficiently. If you have the 24V DOHC engine in your Taurus, the water pump has its own belt and that belt may be broken. The water pump is driven off the camshaft and is hidden underneath an appearance cover.

As TaurusKing suggests, air in the cooling system can cause the sensor/sender to give an inaccurate reading.

Also as TaurusKing suggested, get the PCM/ECM scanned for codes next and post the codes here for further suggestions.

-Rod