98 escort gauges stay on

[pudman]

1998 escort wagon. 134,600 miles. after driving and then shutting off car, the water temp gauge and fuel gauge do not go down to zero. they stay where they were at as if they are hooked up to constant 12 volt power... not switched. then in the morning they are still at the same place until i turn the ignition switch to run. the water temp will go down to cold, and the gas moves accordingly. the gauges work fine other than that. am i wrong in thinking at least the water temp should drop to cold everytime i turn the ignition off? these are factory gauges in the factory cluster, and are electrical. my thoughts are maybe a dirty ignition switch. i would like some feedback before i pull the cluster out and start checking things

[BOB V]

I have a 93 Tempo and ever since I bought it in 2001 my guages do exactly as you state. The temp and fuel guages remain at their position when I shut the ignition off. The temp guage corrects and drops accordingly the next time the car is started, if the engine has cooled-just as you mention. I haven't had any 'battery going dead' issues with this in the past 10 years of owning this car. Hope this helps, Bob V

[gacyota]

I had a 95 Escort with the same thing. I thought there was an issue at first, but nothing ever came of it.

[pudman]

thanks all. I guess I won't worry about it either. I have only owned the car for 3 months, and have not had any battery issues either. Must be a Ford thing, even though my '86 Mustang does not do this. I'm going to start a "poll" thread in the chit chat section and see just how common this is