I had a problem with my temp gauge in my 2nd gen V6. It would barely move off cold.. If it did it was only very slightly.. Sometimes it would get close to normal but i believe this is when it was actually running hot

Now ive replaced it with another temp gauge that is from a v6 manual (same as mine). This one reads normal when the car is cold then goes right to the top when its running at normal temp (ie thermo fans cutting in and out)

help???

Can't simply pull the needle off and reposition?

Can't simply pull the needle off and reposition?

duno..can you???

yes you can, i had to pull all my nedles of when i was doing my white diles

yes you can, i had to pull all my nedles of when i was doing my white diles

yeh i can pull the needle off and put it back on.. but does that mean the temp gauge is working right?? or am i just moving the hot zone back down to the half way mark?

are you sure its the temp gauge thats not working? could be a signal prob...? just another thing to consider, otherwise get an aftermarket one. thats what i'm goin to do eventually, mount it infront of the center airvents, spot was made for gauges!

are you sure its the temp gauge thats not working? could be a signal prob...? just another thing to consider, otherwise get an aftermarket one. thats what i'm goin to do eventually, mount it infront of the center airvents, spot was made for gauges!

not sure to be honest.. it could be a signal problem. but the fact that one gauge is reading nothing and the other is reading hot makes me think there is some signal coming through

Dumb question, have you tried putting the old cluster back in and changing the thermostat?

Ive had 3 2nd Gens with this issue, all 3 of them were fixed by replacing the thermostat.

How is your electrical knowledge.

If you can use a multimeter measure the resistance with the temp sensor wire off of the temp sender terminal to the engine block.

When cold it should be about 150 ohms or higher and when at operating temp it should be about 80 to 100 ohms or so. (as it gets hotter the resistance goes down.)

60C = 152 ohms +/- 20
70C = 104 ohms +/- 13.5
100C = 37.4 ohms +/- 2

If that is correct get yourself a couple of resisters (dick smith etc) of about those 2 amounts (as near as you can) and connect them between the temp sense wire and the block with the ign on. If you can get a variable restor of about 200 ohms even better, then you can wind the gauge up and down.

If the gauge reads cold for the higher resistance and about half for the lower resistance the gauge is ok.

If both tests are ok you have a problem in the sender wire somewhere.

Hope that helps a bit.:)

Dumb question, have you tried putting the old cluster back in and changing the thermostat?

Ive had 3 2nd Gens with this issue, all 3 of them were fixed by replacing the thermostat.

interesting.. how did the thermo fans behave on these three cars?

how do the thermo fans know when to turn on and off????? if there cutting in and out is that a good sign the car is running at normal tempature.. reason i ask is im not overally concerned about the temp gauge right now i just want to be sure the engine isnt over heating all the time...



thanks olfart, ive got a bit of an idea.. but i also know someone that will no exactly what your talking about so ill test all that asap. cheers mate

The thermostat mainly effects underheating rather than overheating. If a thermostat is stuck open, the car will stay cold for much longer before eventually warming to "normal". It has to heat up all of the coolant, rather than just the coolant in the engine.

Of course, if it were stuck closed, then the coolant wouldn't get to the radiator, and yeah you'd overheat. Much more common to have one stuck open rather than closed though.

Thermo fans I think are controlled by the temp sensor (via ECU?), personally I don't think they should need to be running much, but I guess if they are turning off that means the temp has temporarily abated. But I don't think they should be turning on too often.

Thermo fans I think are controlled by the temp sensor (via ECU?), personally I don't think they should need to be running much, but I guess if they are turning off that means the temp has temporarily abated. But I don't think they should be turning on too often.


the thermo fans only cut in when the car is sitting still ideling... i reckon the thermostate could be stuffed cause it takes ages to warm up

i don't have one in my car at all so its 'open' all the time. not sure if thats good but its how i got the car and i haven't been bothered putting one in. doesn't appear to be doing anything evil, just takes ages to warm up is all.

Running the engine cold wears it out more, and uses more fuel. Replacement and gasket are less than $20, and it's a 15min easy job to replace.