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It's not supposed to be on. It comes on when engine reaches certain temperature. But if you see that temperature gauge is going in the red area you need to check the fan relay, its fuse, and the temperature sensor.
In my experience with my Chevy it was a ground wire
look under the throttle body on the front of the engine there s a sensor with 3 wires going to it that is the engine coolant temperature sensor
If you mean the temp. Gauge in a CAR; it let's you know the temperature of the water in the engine Radiator. If the temp. Gauge is at, or close to, or past the RED mark on the gauge, then the water is TOO HOT which means that it is boiling and turning to steam and most likely to burst one of the rubber hoses that carry the water through the engine casing. It is very very unwise to keep the engine going if the gauge goes to the red mark on it. You will cause expensive damage to the engine if it is not kept cool by the water being circulated by the fan in the front of the engine. Just stop the engine and call a mechanic instantly.
It sounds like your temperature sender (on top of the engine) is faulty allowing it to earth out, or the wire going to the sender may be touching a earth.
add water to the radiator. believe that. if there is no water flowing through the engine, your heater will only blow cold air. if there is no water flowing through the engine and your heater is only blowing cold air, and not HEATING, your heater core is probably going out or will be soon. most people believe that if you have no water in the engine then your temperature gauge will run hot and you will know that you are overheating the engine. WRONG! your temp gauge only measures WATER temp. But if there is no water to measure, there is no temperature rise showing on the dashboard gauge. if you have NO WATER in the engine you can seriously overheat your engine and not know it because the gauge is not getting any hotter than usual (sometimes your gauge will even read cooler than usual).
The thermostat or the fan relay for the radiator fan. If the temperature gauge shows the engine to be hot the fan should be on. If the fan isn't on you can check it by removing the electrical connection to the temperature sensor. If the fan is all right it will come on by default when the wiring connector is removed. Usually it is the thermostat which needs to be replaced when the engine is overheating. If the top hose going to the radiator isn't hot when the temperature gauge shows the engine to be hot the thermostat is stuck shut and should be replaced.
If you temperature gauge is going up and down then you may have a problem with your sensor. You should take your car to a professional to ensure that you don't overheat your car.
Your car is starting to overheat or your thermostat is going out. Get it checked.
The temperature gauge works intermittently or the temperature displayed varies varies or the gauge doesn't work at all. Many modern sending units serve two purposes, gauge and ECU. when the ECU side fails it should (but not always) throw up a fault code.
My Altima had that problem and it was the water pump going out. It started with temperature gauge was moving, but then it started leaking and finally the heater stopped being warm at idle.
Temperature gauge reads signals off the coolant temperature sensor. It can also point to a faulty thermostat. If your car runs rough in cold, idles rough and uses up more fuel then coolant temperature sensor is your problem. They are normaly a cheap and easy diy to do.