Temp needle not moving off of low mark

[appletonbill]

I have noticed that my temp needle is not moving off the cold mark lately. I know the rad is full and it's not overheating. Is it the coolant temp sensor?

 

[Explorin94]

More than likely it will be the guage in the dash. Go get a good temp guage and install it under your dash. The factory guages are merely glorified switches and don't always read right when they need to. You will find with a good temperature guage that the engine runs right around that thermostat that is in it.

 

[bmerr98]

Sounds like your thermostat is stuck open. My 98 was doing the same thing. New thermostat fixed it. Mileage was improved as the engine was able to get up to operating temp. Plus, being inexpensive and a fairly easy fix, it's a good place to start.

 

[martin]

It's very common for the contact on the sensor to get dirty, try cleaning it, sometimes just pulling the connection off and on a few times will do it.

 

[6.2]

Thermostat. My 06 did it in the middle of winter last year. Wouldn't come up and nothing was wrong.

I was 130 miles from home. By the time I got home the check engine light was on. Sure enough, thermostat.

Replaced and all has been well since.

Super easy to do. And cheap. So go for it. Even if that's not the problem is a good thing to do if you have higher miles.