I did a flush and refill of coolant and thought I had air in the system. The issue is the dash gauge was not coming up to normal temp and was fluctuating radically towards cold. Wife drove the car one day and said it was fine, Daughter drove the next and said it wouldn't move off cold at all. I get heat out of the heater and the engine runs fine. I checked the sensor with an ohm meter at different temps and the ohm's change per the chart I found. On a last ditch I took it into an Instant Oil change place and had them pressure flush and refill the system. Still no gauge reading. I can't believe the dash gauge would go bad the same time the fluid was changed so I'm back to scratching my head. Any ideas or experience with problem is welcome!

 

Update: I found out today from talking to the guys at an Advance Auto that there are 2 temp sensors on the Contour. One on top of the thermostat housing and one unerneath. The one on top feeds info to the computer and the one underneath sends signals to the dash gauge. This is the suspect at this point and I ordere one that I will have Monday.