temperature gauge wrong
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New User
Joined: Feb 2008
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temperature gauge wrong
My Temp gauge reads in the red after a few minutes of driving and normally starts about half way up the gauge when it is off. I've had my 95 4cylinder for 2 years now and knew about the problem when I got it.
I'm just getting around to actually fixing it. I thought that the sending unit might be wrong but the previous owner told me he switched it out and it didn't change. Can the actual gauge be broken. Even when it does settle at the bottom it rises to the red, as high as it can go, withing a few minutes of driving.
What could this be???
I'm just getting around to actually fixing it. I thought that the sending unit might be wrong but the previous owner told me he switched it out and it didn't change. Can the actual gauge be broken. Even when it does settle at the bottom it rises to the red, as high as it can go, withing a few minutes of driving.
What could this be???
Senior User
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 113
Likes: 1
you can hold the sending unit wire to a ground and the gauge should go all the way to hot. If not, the gauge is bad. Some of these gauges are solid state meaning the whole instrument gauge cluster has to be replaced as a unit. If it is not solid state you will see screws where you can remove just the temp gauge by itself, after you have removed the cluster you can look at the back and see this. There is a difference between coolant temp sensor and the sending unit for the gauge. The previous owner may have unwittingly replaced the coolant sensor and not the sending unit
Postmaster
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 4,516
Likes: 1
From: SoCal
Yep, the gauge should read full hot when you ground the wire.
Leave the wire disconnected & it should read full cold. Does it?
Sounds like you might have the sender for an idiot light instead of a gauge.
The gauge sender is a variable resisitor & goes from high resistance cold to low resistance as it warms up.
The idiot light sender is an on or off switch.
The temp gauge sender has a single red/white stripe wire.
Leave the wire disconnected & it should read full cold. Does it?
Sounds like you might have the sender for an idiot light instead of a gauge.
The gauge sender is a variable resisitor & goes from high resistance cold to low resistance as it warms up.
The idiot light sender is an on or off switch.
The temp gauge sender has a single red/white stripe wire.
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