Temp gauge help? (1 Viewer)

[Sloan]

Two weeks ago I had my fan clutch swapped out at a local shop. When I went to pick up the truck the gauge instead of running at it's normal halfway was at a bout 75%. I took it back and they messed with it, checked it with a temp gun and she's running at 180. So I drive it for a few days and it starts creeping up into the red so I park it. I get a temp gun and sure enough 180. So now I have swapped the sending unit, cleaned the contacts on my fuel gauge, swapped in a borrowed set of gauges and I have exhausted my miniscule mechanical knowledge. Any ideas? When I swapped in the sending unit I noticed that the wire for it had a break in the coating so I wrapped it with electrical tape just to get through the diagnostic phase, would that cause the behavior?

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

The stock temperature gauges are notorious for bad or incorrect readings.

I would buy an aftermarket gauge, they're cheap, reliable, and will give you some peace of mind.

 

[TEXASYETI]

I put in a mechanical guage and the difference in sensitivity is pretty big between them.

Here's my install write-up:

https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-wagons/510166-mechanical-oil-pressue-water-temp-install.html

 

[Spike Strip]

This is why your temp gauge is acting funny:

https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-wagons/27578-temp-sending-unit.html

A simple and more accurate fix is a mechanical temp gauge install, as outlined above. You can leave your stock gauge alone and install one like this:

https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-wagons/295995-mechanical-water-temp-gauge-install-write-up.html

Or, you can install a 15ohm resistor in-line for the temp sender wire and that will fix the problem with the voltage regulation.