Engine Temperature Guage Not Registering????

[Ole Blu]

Has anyone else experienced this problem??? :confused

My engine temperature guage does not work / stays at 120* / no movement.

All other guages are working properly. I just got back from taking a 75 mile drive. Everything works properly with the exception of the engine temperture guage.

1. Could this be a bad fuse? :confused

2. Where would the fuse be located? :confused

3. What # would the fuse be? :confused

4. Does this need to be reset by the dealer with a computher scanner? :confused

 

[RALPHIE]

Coolant Level??? :lol :lol :lol

 

[nota4re]

First, make sure that you absolutely have a full charge on your battery. This is best done by 1) driving your car a lot or; 2) using the factory or aftermarket float charger to keep your battery peaked. A low battery plays havoc with gauge initiation and *could* be your problem... although perhaps not the most likely cause.

Hopefully it is the sending unit as opposed to the gauge. With the clamshell open, it is easy to find the sending unit. It is very near the large oil reservoir. It has a simple 2-wire connector that can be easily disconnected. One of the wires is orange and the other is tan with an orange stripe. The sending unit is a temperature sensitive variable resistor. When coolant temp is low, resistance should be high - in the range of ~160.31Kohm. When the coolant temp is high, resistance is low ~1.18Kohm. You can probably disconnect and test this sending unit fairly easily.

FYI, the dealer will have a diagnostic tool that can test the gauge and which also has the ability to command the gauge to move across its entire range.

 

[Phil]

I used to have this problem as well. Not only the temp gauge, my battery gauge does the same thing. Have taken the car to the dealer a few times and now I occasionally still experiencing the same issue with the battery gauge only...during driving or at a stop..the battery gauge will just drop dead for a little while and comes back on again..weird!

 

[MAD IN NC]

keep em on the charger as Kendall says guys......

I do that now and have not seen any problems for over 18 months. When I leave it off and drive it only on weekends - after 2-3 weeks all kinds of weird things start to go array with the gauge.... Fuel not registering full after fill up, speedo sweeping etc....

BTW - check the ground off the battery to the frame.