Ford-temp gauge in red, but not boiling over

Car overheating
I have a dilemma, with my 2.5 L. 6 Cyl.1998 Ford Contour,
Driving home from a ride on the highway, when I entered my home city I noticed that
My engine temperature gauge was pegged all the way to the right as far as it could go.
I stopped the vehicle, opened the hood and there was no indication of boiling over.
I then drove for about a mile or so to my house, where I again checked under the hood,
again no indication of escaping steam or boiling over. The water reservoir was full but not over flowing. Cooled the car down and ran the Engine, the electric fan came on
about the right spot on the temperature gauge, but the temperature kept rising into the red zone, again, no visible overheating.
Took the car to local repair shop where I was told they changed the thermostat and a sensor. Car still runs into the red zone, not quickly, but it does. There was some talk about a water pump overhaul.
Would appreciate any and all help here.
Thank you, Mike

 

You should get a scan tool hooked up to the car when it gets close to overheating, to see exactly what temp the sensor is reading. If the sensor is reading normal temp when gauge is not, you may just have a bad gauge. If the reading is shows HOT, then you may have a bad water pump or head gasket problem.

How's your oil? It should not appear milky, as this is a sign of coolant in the oil.

 

Yes, you need to know if it's really too hot
(Actually, the shop should have done this before changing anything)

If you know someone with a scan tool (to read real-time computer data) or a "laser" thermometer you need to (or have someone) measure the actual temp when the gauge is in the red

 

Ford engines are prone to overheating, overall just a bad cooling system I guess , it also could be your temp gauge but I wouldn't bet on it, most likely your car is running too hot.
Anyways just on a quick note, always remember to change the engine oil after overheat since extreme hot temps degrade and deteriorate motor oil.

 

As a Contour owner myself with the 2.5 L Duratec engine, I'm very familiar with the overheating problem. Those V-6 engines in '98 and older Contours had a black plastic impellar on the waterpump which was prone to disintegrating at 50,000 miles or so. Symptoms are the temp gauge pegged all the way to "hot", but no heat from the heater when you turn it on.

Waterpump is located on the backside of these engines, driven by a small belt off a pully extending from one of the camshafts.

Make sure the replacement water pump has either a metal impellar or the improved "white plastic" impellar.

As a side note, their is a forum dedicated strictly to these cars, its (links not allowed) and there are a lot of savvy young guys that know about every square inch of Contours and Mystiques.