There are several reasons this could be:
You don't have one. The fan is controlled by the PCM. It gets its information from the A/C pressure switch and a sensor right behind the thermostat. The temperature guage gets it's reading the same way, so if the guage is reading ok, the sensor is good.
Either the car will overheat (stuck shut) or the car will never reach normal temperature(stuck open). If there is no reading on the guage the temperature sender in the engine cylinder head is likely to be faulty.
One of your guages is indicating tha you have a problem. Either your gas guage is low and you nee dto put some gas in, or your engine temp guage is reading high, your alternator guage is low, or your oil pressure is reading low.
The guage on the dash uses the ONE wire sensor... This is located in the block near the drivers side. Eric First check to see if you have coolant in the radiator. If there is no coolant you will not get any reading from the temperature sensor. If there is coolant then change the temperature sensor.
I presume the engine is running when the car is parked if the temperature guage does not move to the normal position when the car is moving at road speed but goes up when the car is stopped and the engine idling, then more than likely the thermostat is bad and needs to be replaced. If you se that the temperature guage is in the normal position anafter the car has been running a while and the temperature guage then goes down when the car is moving at road speed, then this confirms that the thermosta is bad.
Broken Temp guage
If the guage itself is broken it will have to be replaced, possibly part of the dash cluster. Might be easier to install an aftermarket guage in the dash and don't worry about the original guage. Aftermarket guages are better as they actually give you a temperature number instead of a "normal" area on the guage and you have to guess what it actually is.
That's a good thing. The temperature guage is supposed to show a good medium once the car is warmed up enough. If the temperature guage begins to go towards the red mark, then there is an occurring of overheating in the engine. If the temperature guage shows its under the halfway point then theres a very cold temperature climate and a possible freeze warning.
temperature guage sending unit
Take wire off temperature sender look a guage. If guage at cool, temp sender needs replacement. If guage still at hot, temp sender wire shorted to engine or vehicle body.
The fuel guage on most vehicles moves based on a positive or negative ohm signal from the Fuel Sending Unit on the fuel pump assembly. The guage HAS to correspond with the sending unit, or else the guage will read backwards (ie: reading a full tank of gas when your actually on fumes)
The coolant temperature sending units are near the thermostat housing. The small one is for your temperature guage, the larger one is for the EEC system.