I have owned my 98 contour for 5 years. It is a 2.0L automatic with about 140,000 miles on it (guessing since odometer hasn't worked in a year) In the past year my speedometer, temp gauge, odometer, and tripometer have all stopped working. All of the "idiot" light and all other lights on the cluster still work. I need help figureing out what it is and fast. Inspection is next month and it's not gonna pass the way it is.

 

Look for these things: dual filament light bulb with one filament half burnt and crossed onto the other, bad or dirty speed sensor at wheels(very likely), blown fuse, or bad instrument voltage regulator.

 

where do I find all of those things?

 

Sent PM.

 

can I get a copy of this sent PMI have a simliar problem?

 

I have a 98 Contour 2.0 and my temperature gauge does not move. I changed the sending unit, but the gauge dose not move. Is there a why totest the gauge rather than spending $80 on a guess. Could it be somthing else???

 

Could always be a fuse - so that's always a good place to begin with electrical items. Next some weird electrical problems occur with dirty battery cables (and posts) - clean the connections. With the little stuff out of the way - yes, you can test the guage by removing it - which you would have to do anyhow if it were defective - and passing certain voltage through it. Unfortunately not many books are written on guage testing and if you pass to little or to much electricity through the guage either it will wrongly appear defective or it will fry it. I would suggest a lower priced guage from a salvage yard if I were first sure that the float sender to the guage (in the fuel tank) weren't the actual problem. If you have a wiring diagram you can test these things however the diagrams often don't make up for the price of themselves. If you only use it once it's a bit of a waste - so I usually look on an online search engine to see if someone has posted what I need for free. If you needed - dual filament bulbs are usually the rear brake/turn bulbs, wheel speed sensors are located inboard of the brakes on sometimes all - sometimes 2 - wheels, fuses of course are in the fuse panel (you may even check relays) - see owners manual and instrument voltage regulation is likely computer controlled (computer boxes can fail also) unless there is a regulator (usually small box) with or very near the guages.