I am new to the site, and was wondering if someone could help me in trouble shooting my temp gauge. I have a 1997 f350. I brought the truck a year ago and i have still not fix this problem. I install a new temp gauge and nothing changed. When ever the truck is running it reads cold and doesnt budge. Ive read that the gauge can be broken its self but during a few hot times over the summer. The gauge began to rise slower, never reaching normal tempature. A few times i messed with the heat and the gauge would shoot over the normal temp. The truck seems to run at a good temp sometimes hot though. The tube on top of the radiator is hotter than the bottom also. Thank you for you time

 

Your problem is probably internal to the instrument cluster.

 

By that you mean the gauge?

 

Yes or more accurately the motor driving the gauge needle.

FWIW I had a '97 E250 with this same issue, the gauge eventually failing and no longer registering anything at all. A new cluster courtesy eBay fixed the issue.

I've been and am now in the process of dissecting and re-setting the mileage in a cluster with the pre-digital counter. Replacing just that gauge movement is possible I suppose but it does require a bit of knowledge and skill soldering electronic components.