If the delearship had disconnected my coolant temp gauge (1998 2.8) and forgotten to reconnect it, would it be easy to do myself? I'm pretty far away from them right now and if it's something I can take care of quickly I would just as soon do it.

 

if you're not knowledged enough to look it up, i doubt you can do it yourself.

you should complain to the dealer, see if they'll compensate you at all for the inconvenience...
may want to consider switching to a different dealer... considering the importance of the matter...
if your car were to overheat, you wouldn't even know w/o that guage.

 

I won't be using that dealer again given that I've just moved. I figured I would have to take it in to a dealer to get it reconnected, but I just thought I would check first on the off chance I could save myself the trip.

 

you can reconnect it yourself...search the archives, i've posted a few different write-ups for changing it yourself, just look at those directions and you'll see where it is and how to plug it back in....it is really easy

 

Word from the dealership is that the thermostat needs to be changed. Is this another name for the ECT sensor or are they different parts?

 

they're different parts. how many miles do you have? has the dealership or anyone else recently changed the timing belt? how many miles are on the current belt?

 

103K on the car, timing belt was changed a little before 100K (the woman I bought it from had it changed right before she soldd the car, because nobody was buying it with the original timing belt on there).

EDIT: After driving the car a bit more, the gauge sometimes works fine. If it works when I start the car, it will work for the duration of the drive. If it doesn't move from cold, then it stays there until I'm done with the drive. Is this still consistent with a broken thermostat or is it more likely that there is a loose wire or connector somewhere?

 

First of all, make sure you understand that thermostat and ECT are 2 different things.
ECT measures what you see on the coolant temperature gauge.
Now, if this sometimes works and sometimes not, then it may be failing and you may have to replace the ECTsensor.
If it's not plugged in, it should never work....
Trust me, having a bad ECTsensor could be a nightmare...
you won't have a good air/fuel ratio... your car will run lean/rich at all times, and can cause much more to happen...
If it's the sensor that is not plugged in, it should be farely easy after you find it.

 

I just reseated the connector, since that was free and easy to do. If it still doesn't work, I'm going to replace the sensor. If that still doesn't work, I think it's time to just take it to a dealer.

EDIT: Drove out to the airport and back (around 25 miles). Gauge stayed in the middle on the drive out. I turned the car off and sat for five minutes, then drove back. In the beginning it stayed in the middle, then dropped to C, then back to the middle, then back to C and stayed there. Is the consensus that this could mean a bad ECT sensor?