My god damn temp gauge started to act weirdly AGAIN this week!

When it first started last summer, i changed the thermostat because it was stuck open and did a radiator flush at the same time. Then the car went for storage from december 1st to april 1st. Nothing happened ever sinced after i changed it...

Everything was okay until yesterday. I got stuck into traffic for the first time this season and my temperature gauge started to go down and up back and forth. It goes from it's normal operating temperature to the lowest it can, on and on, but never above normal temperature. Sometimes it takes 5 mins for it to go back up, others 15, and today it got stuck at the coldest possible all day long (I drive my car for 25 kms twice a day only) like if my engine was always cold (like from cold start in the morning). Fans runs okay, they dont always work and they do start once in a while.

I asked for some advices to a few friends who do their own mech and they all said i shoudlnt worry too much since its not like if the gauge had shown the engine was getting too hot. Some thinks it could only be the cluster... while i'm wondering if their could be some kind of "heat sensor" or some random thing like that??

Any clues anyone? Someone ever encounter this kind of situation?

This post has been edited by reko: Aug 21, 2009 - 4:11 PM

I hear it can be the coolant temperature sensor (located on the coolant neck of the engine, in front of the distributor) that causes that. when it goes bad.

This post has been edited by samir0189: Aug 21, 2009 - 4:11 PM

Any chance that the wire to the cluster that controls the position of the gauge is on its way out? Maybe it's not getting +V which would cause it to drop?

Not sure how the gauges are wired up or what causes them to move back and forth, just throwing something else out there since you said you already changed the temp sensor.

maybe it's time to bypass it altogether with a new aftermarket gauge. I'm running an oil pressure gauge and will be running a temp one soon.

bleed your system with heather maxed out and front jacked up
start the engine
open the rad pressure cap
wait 20min until the engine fan starts
give some throttle
press and shake all coolant hoses (with gloves)
refill the coolant that fall to the ground when you do that


This post has been edited by domyz: Aug 21, 2009 - 8:33 PM

I have a movie of what it actually does if anyone in here is interested.

http://rapidshare.com/files/270531265/3.mov.html

It doesnt always do this... sometimes it stays at cold the entire time, sometimes it does this instead...

This post has been edited by reko: Aug 23, 2009 - 8:02 AM