[JonNeedham]

Hey guys, again I'm new to the forum so I'm.not sure if this is where I post this.
Anyway i did some forum searching and came up with not much. My temperature gauge is 2 inches past hot, yet the car is not overheating? No bubbles,smells nothing. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[05mystang]

It could be the motor that moves the needle. Does it do it all the time? How about right when you first start the car after it's sat for a few hours or overnight?

 

[JonNeedham]

It does it quite often, I let it sit overnight and came out and it was In the same spot as the night before, which is past the H. I took off the negative terminal today and it went back to normal and has been that say since. But a few nights ago I took the terminal off and it went to normal.but then a few hours later it did it again.

 

[#1fordlover]

I Imagine our Stangs have em, mabey not. But there's a thing called a Temperature Sending Unit, that could be bad. It's a probe that goes into the Block usuaully by the Thermostat and it measures the temperature of the Coolant inside the Block.
But from what you describe is a Stuck Needle in the Guages, or one that is'nt working right, so the problem could be in the Dash Guages too, just dont know for sure......

 

[hubkap]

OP: what kind of Mustang do you have? In S197's I don't think there's 2" of needle travel total let alone 2" past hot. That might help us help you.

 

[05mystang]

OP: what kind of Mustang do you have? In S197's I don't think there's 2" of needle travel total let alone 2" past hot. That might help us help you.

I don't think it is supposed to travel that much either, but I also wouldn't be surprised if it did. The fuel gauge is about the same amount of travel, and on my car it will move about an inch past full, so that the needle is pointing directly toward the passenger side of the car. It only does this once in a blue moon, and it always goes back to normal. My speedo is all sorts of messed up, half the time it works just fine and the other half of the time it doesn't work at all. Sometimes when it isn't working it will use a random speed as 0, eg 40, so 60mph would show as 100. Other times it doesn't move at all. Anyways I'm willing to bet it is the motors or the cluster itself, as it still does it when the car is off.

 

[hubkap]

There are six stepper motors behind the S197 instrument pack - one for each of the six gauges. All six motors are the same part number - X25.589. They are about $6 apiece - just Google that part # and you'll find places to buy online.

If you are handy and want to try to replace one (or all six while you're at it), here are instructions on how to do it:

Stepper Motor Replacement for the S197 Instrument Pack

I'm not saying for sure this motor is the cause, since we still don't even know the OP's model year, but these motors do go bad and a dealer will charge a ton to fix or else want to replace your entire instrument cluster.