98 Contour running hot - not overheating...

My 98 Ford Contour w/146,000+ mi, 4cyl, auto trans, has been running very hot for quite some time. I took it to my mech and he said there were no leaks etc and that the computer said it wasn't as hot as the guage reads. So, I took it to my Ford dealer (where I bought it) and he pretty much said the same thing. Although he said that the switch ($12.00) for the gauge needed to be changed.

I also had the dealer do a cooling system flush, the roughly $100 version.

I changed both the sensor and the switch and it's still running very hot. So, now I'm baffled? On occassion, the air conditioner blows hot air so I had the AC checked out. All is ok with the AC but, he told me that the electric fan cuts out way to early which knocks the pressure down and leads to the AC blowing hot air.

My question is this. Could a bad water pump cause this? It's not easy to see if proper circulation is happening or not. Is there a sure fire way to know if the water pump is functioning properly?

I would greatly appreciate any help???

Chalk another one up for contour.org.

http://www.contour.org/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=trouble&Number=573538&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1