I have a 2006 Ford Five Hundred Limited AWD. Yesterday my check engine light came on, but the car seemed to be operating correctly and of course, the first thing I checked was to make sure it was not overheating and it was fine. When I got home I plugged in my diagnostics reader and it showed “P0183, Fuel Temperature Sensor A Circuit High”. I drove the car again today and everything seems to work fine so when I got home, I re-plugged in my reader and cleared it. Does anybody know what this really means and how can I correct it? Should I worry about this? Where is this so-called sensor A located if it needs to be replaced? Thank you in advance for any input!

 

Exactly where it is, I can't locate the diagram but per Pinpoint DD pdf attached below, it's on the fuel rail and the connector has 2-pin and named FRT. Do not remove the sensor, just disconnect the electrical connector and clean.

 

OK, great! I did see that on a YouTube video, but I wasn’t sure if this had anything to do with it. A new one was put on here about three or so years ago, but I still have the old one. I will unplug that and clean up the connection. I am here in Phoenix and I thought maybe is because it is 1000° here is why that happened. Thank you again and I very much appreciate your info.

 

More than likely the root cause is probably not the sensor itself if it was replaced a few years ago, it should be the wiring or poor connection, the 2 wires that just need a bit cleaning or even a problem with the fuel pump causing high pressure throughout the fuel rail, so don't just check temperature, you check the pressure as well, checkout FRPT below. Pinpoint DD.pdf attached previously covers a lot of troubleshooting procedures and details.

 

OK, got it! Sounds like it is an easier fix more than likely than I was anticipating or dreading. Thank you so much for the information. I greatly appreciate it. It’s been a great car and it still looks good and rides beautifully. But little things here and there are starting to wear. Thanks again for your info!

 

Another question regarding this same issue… I’ve been driving the car for a couple days now with no issues and the engine light came on again today. Going 100 miles an hour right now having two jobs and the first chance I will be able to look at this will be Sunday. Will it hurt the engine to keep driving the vehicle like this?

 

If it was an issue with ECT sensor then you have to fix or replace immediately. On FRT sensor, perhaps just poor fuel economy that doesn't require immediate attention.
If the wiring and connector look okay then you should look into replacing the sensor, just FRT and not FRPT, you will look into it this Sunday so that's good.

 

OK, great thank you very much! My brother had the car before me and he said there is an extra one that he said is in a box of miscellaneous parts that he gave me. I’ve never really gone through that so I’m going to look for it and see if it looks good. If not, Rockauto here I come. Thanks again for your info greatly appreciate it!

 

Should be the one with 2-pin connector, look for it.
If you look at P0183 diagram above again, there are 4 possible causes. The first 3 is related to wiring, the CEL would stay on or turned back on in a few minutes after reset if that was the case, but you said CEL was off for a couple of days, then it's not the wiring issue, so the 4th possible cause, the sensor itself.