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Temperature Guage not working 1990 Dl wagon

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When ignition is turned on, the guage obviously gets power, as the dial rises to a low position, however it doesn't rise as the car warms up.

Any advice?

 

If it is any help I have found to replace the sender unit for temp gauge gives a wider reading. I am not sure if you touch the temp sender wire end to the earth of the engine or body when ignition is ON, I think the needle shoots to maximum HOT

Yeah Jono, easiest way to check the wiring by earthing it to the intake manifold.  Ignition on. This will confirm the wiring and gauge work which points at the sender being the issue. 

Cheers

Bennie

or just the cleanliness of contact between sender body and manifold threads. they are only one wire to sender at this vintage. I do not know if water is the best earth, maybe it is using the coolant for earth ??

It's good to check the earth strap/wire between the battery and the engine, and the gearbox to the body (near spare wheel mount). Also ensure you've got an earth wire from the battery to the body. That'll have any earthing issues covered from the "big end".

My brumby temp gauge didn't work, earthed the wire and there's no issues there - it works. Swapped out the sender. Still no dice. Made sure the contacts were clean. Still no dice. 

Now that I'm driving around in winter when I'm not worried about engine temps too much it starts to work again... Go figure. 

Cheers

Bennie

The temperature sensor does not rely on the coolant for ground.   While it isn't an insulator,  water is a poor conductor compared to aluminum. 

If all else fails, disconnect the engine harness on DS, clean it & re-connect. Sometimes oxides can cause problems in pin & sleeve connectors.

On ‎7‎/‎25‎/‎2018 at 10:04 PM, el_freddo said:

It's good to check the earth strap/wire between the battery and the engine, and the gearbox to the body (near spare wheel mount). Also ensure you've got an earth wire from the battery to the body. That'll have any earthing issues covered from the "big end".

My brumby temp gauge didn't work, earthed the wire and there's no issues there - it works. Swapped out the sender. Still no dice. Made sure the contacts were clean. Still no dice. 

Now that I'm driving around in winter when I'm not worried about engine temps too much it starts to work again... Go figure. 

Cheers

Bennie

I always shove an extra factory style earth wire from engine block to body hoping to eliminate future earthing troubles

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