I have a 97 ford explorer XLT. The other day I drove it to the mall which is about 10 miles away from my home. I got in my car and turned on the a/c no problem going to the mall, but when I was comming back and I was stuck at red light I noticed the temp starting to go up slowly but still on its way up. The light turned green and i hit the gas, once i did that I noticed the temp started going down. I stoped at the gas station and did not turn off the engine left it running with the a/c on just to see if it would happen again, sure enough the temp started going up, it passed the thermostat icon so It was way above the middle mark. bottom line is while the car is in drive and the a/c is on it won't warm up but if you come to a stop and a/c is on, the temp starts rising. I now drive with my a/c off and the temp stays in the middle, I do notice that it tends to go down a bit when I'm driving and when I come to a stop it goes back up to the middle but it will never pass the middle mark. (as long as the a/c is not on) If anyone has any idea of what the problem might be I would really really appreciate some feedback.

 

As long as it is not overheating, then probably not a problem. To see if I can answer your question, The A/C condensor sits in front of the radiator. As the A/C system operates, the compressor puts out high pressure gases which are pretty hot. They flow into the condensor to cool down. Air is drawn through the condensor and it relieves some of the heat from the fins and that hot air is now drawn through your radiator fins. Since it is hot air and not cool air is going through the radiator, the radiator doesn't cool as much as with the A/C off. The Explorer has a fairly sensitive temp sending unit, as you can watch the opening and closing of the thermostat on most vehicles while driving. Your vehicle probably isn't really running hot, but have someone plug into the system to watch the engine temp, just in case. The gauge has a pretty good swing over a 20 degree range, so unless it is actually overheating, I would run the A/C..

 

Wow, I am surprised at the lack of knowledge supplied in some of these responses. Your problem is the following, your fan or fans are not working properly. If you have electric fan setup it works on multiple levels. Meaning your electric fan will run to cool normal engine operation at X temperature, when you turn on your A/C the cooling fan should automatically come on regardless of engine operating temp(this is to remove heat from A/C condenser) So to test to see if this is your problem, start your car from stone cold and turn on A/C right away, pop the hood and listen or spot the cooling fan operation, it should be operating, if not you have a problem. If you have an old school clutch fan setup then it too could be bad cause the clutch should lock up tighter when it detects hotter air blowing across the temp sensor on the clutch fan. You definetly have a problem, don't ignore it or it will cost you a head gasket or worse. Could be as simple as relay, fuse, or fan motor bad.

 

Wow, I'm surprised at the lack of knowledge supplied in some of these responses. The 97 Ford Explorer does not use an electric fan to cool the engine.

 

 

Are you way2old to read the whole post?

 

Are your WHEELSUP so high you can not see any other opinion other than yours??? As far as I know this is an open forum and another poster gave their input. You may not agree, but you are not the only one posting here. Just glad you know so much more than the rest of us. Makes me be able to relax much more.

 

The fact of the matter is that the only opinion that I truly value is the one that I give you. LOL. I was strictly refering to the fact that you originally told the poster to not worry about a temperature gauge that is reading abnormally high. If it is okay to read high then why did Ford not design the gauge to read in the middle despite water temps being in excess of 240degrees. Please, you and I both know that there is a problem with this guys car that needs to be fixed, regardless of the vehicle being equipped with a electric fan or clutch fan. You are suggesting that he ignore a problem that could potentially be very expensive not solved.

And yes my wheels are up high.

 

If you read the entire post, you will see that I did not respond to the original poster. That was another member. So, I guess we all need to back off and read the entire posts before jumping. So before you question my answers again, PLEASE be sure they are MY answers.

 

Sorry, I guess I was thrown by the "Old" in both your names. It is also easy to lose track when only like 4 people seem to post on this forum anymore. It is a shame, it used to be a great resource for useful information.