On my way home today my pyrometer crapped out on me. It was at around 400 degrees when it suddenly jumped to 1400 and kept bouncing between that and 1600 (max). I went to a side road and idled it, it kept bouncing. Turned it off and when I turned the key the hand swept from 0 to 1600 and then back to 0, when I trurned the key completly and started the truck it shot straight to 1600 degress and stayed there for the remander of the trip (15 min.) I checked the probe and it's still installed properly. What's the problem here? Bad guage?
-Thanks,
Chris

 

Sounds like you have a wire grounding/shorting.
the temp. probes operate on electrical resistance...
no resistance, it thinks it's 2000+ *F
look anywhere in the wires for metal to wire contact.

 

Bad probe IMO...Autometer....give them a call. They've had trouble with them.
Good news is, They usually send a new one right away.

 

Could be either, but check where you run your wire thru the firewall first. DOnt go making calls until you troubleshoot.

 

I checked the wire in the firewall last night and secured it in a different way to make sure there could be no possible wire to metal connection. Good news is that on my way to school today (30 min.) read perfectly and didn't hop around. I'll keep you guys posted if it happens again.

 

Yep, if you have an autometer call them and they will send you a new one. My water temp gauge went out about a 1 1/2 after I bought it. Sure enough, they just sent me a new one.