I have a 1997 Ford Explorer Sport. I been having problems with my temperature gauge needle it just starts to move up and down rapidly then my check gauge light comes on. But it only does that when I'm pressing the gas. When i come to a stop the check gauge light comes off the the needle spots moving. How much am I looking at to fix the problem and what could it be??

Could be that the thermostat has packed up...

Check all your coolant levels are correct and then take her for a good run out....keep your eyes on the temperature gauge,,if your temp gauge hardly moves then your thermostat is at fault....replace it.

If temp gauge works fine, you may be airlocked in your heater matrix... Try setting heater to full heat with fan on full power,, whilst car is ticking over, remove radiator / expansion bottle cap carefully and start squeezing your coolant pipes. This should force any air out through your rad/bottle top..

Please be aware that as your temperature rises in the engine. Your coolant will expand and start to flow out of the rad/expansion bottle..at this stage quickly replace the cap....check your heater...leave engine to cool....unscrew rad/bottle cap, check coolant levels, top up if necessary and squeeze pipes again..start car with heater/fan on full and repeat above.....

Hope this helps..

Don't forget to check the cabling to the dashboard , if the dial is rapidly moving up and down I would suggest , bad signal/sensor , poor grounding , your gauge I'm assuming jumps from C to mid way and back while driving , if it's jumping to H , stop driving as this would not be, no pun intended , cool!!

might want to take a look at the wires that come out of the fuel tank and the fuel pump. also might want to check the fuses

Runing at the middle of the temp gauge is normal, If a vehicles temp gauge needle goes into the red zone on the gauge or into the hot zone as far as the needle will go .then you start worrying. Middle position is (NormaL for most (Vehicles) You have nothing to worry about.

Check the sending unit mounted on the intake manifold next to the thermostat housing.It probably is open internally and not completing the circiut.Touching the wire thats attached to it to ground should make the guage needle move

car is not getting up to operating temperature, you probably have a stuck open thermostat.

this is almost certainly a oil pressure gauge sending unit problem, replace it and recheck.

this problem is caused by a defective oil pressure gauge sending unit on the engine.

The ford explorer sport track. Will have a short either at the plug of the multi-function switch or 6 inches down where the column bends the wires during tilt.

check temp sensor behind grill near driver headlamp. assumes you have electronic temp controls.

3 19E702 A/C ambient air temperature sensor and bracket