nearly dead temperature gauge
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Joined: Jan 2002
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From: reno usa
nearly dead temperature gauge
My 1995 F-150 XLT temp gauge has about had it. The needle stays off scale at the extreme left (colder than cold) for months at a time. The engine runs fine and seems to be at normal operating tempature. The gauge will occasionally read normally, intermittently, for a day or two, usually during a long trip (is this a clue?). I've replaced the sending unit (I think there were two of them), but it made no difference. I suspect the gauge or a loose connection in the instrument panel. The gauge (combo temp and oil press) are fairly pricey and I didn't want to tear the dash up if it could be avoided. Any seen these symptons and is it difficult to get into the instrument panel?
Freshman User
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 45
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From: Canada
The fix could be simpler than you think. So you have replaced the sender thats the one beside the distibutor on the lower intake(thats 1 less probability) you said the guage works sometimes on long trips, so that may indicate a bad connection.
For starters i'd check with the key on and ground the sender wire on some clean metal nearby your sender plug if your guage goes to hot then your guage isn't the problem. (don't leave this grounding on too long because you can short your guage out)
What i would do is clean the connection out on the sender (the plug that pushes on the end of the sender and make sure its tight on it so it will have a good connection.
Another observation most Ford Truck owners is that the guages are inacurate. For instance the dreaded fuel guage problems (dual tanks) also the oil guage is just a glorified idiot light with a needle. temperature is also in the retard boat like the rest of them. Havent seen much on problems with Alt guages on 1987-1996 F-Series ( 1 on 4 thats not bad eh ? :P)
cheers
--Mat
For starters i'd check with the key on and ground the sender wire on some clean metal nearby your sender plug if your guage goes to hot then your guage isn't the problem. (don't leave this grounding on too long because you can short your guage out)
What i would do is clean the connection out on the sender (the plug that pushes on the end of the sender and make sure its tight on it so it will have a good connection.
Another observation most Ford Truck owners is that the guages are inacurate. For instance the dreaded fuel guage problems (dual tanks) also the oil guage is just a glorified idiot light with a needle. temperature is also in the retard boat like the rest of them. Havent seen much on problems with Alt guages on 1987-1996 F-Series ( 1 on 4 thats not bad eh ? :P)
cheers
--Mat
Last edited by Mats87f_1505OH; Feb 9, 2004 at 01:02 PM.
