Water Temp Guage

S

snapper8v

New Member
Since purchasing my P6 (V8), the water temp has been a constant 85 degrees (or half way on the guage), until last weekend that is. On the way to yet another car show (deep sigh from my wife :D ) the temp only rose to the end of the white section before it joins the green. Thinking that the thermostat had stuck partially open, I changed it but to no avail. I then changed the water temp sender unit, still no change. The next port of call will be the voltage thingy on the back of the guage but my question is.............IF the car does overheat for some reason, will the guage rise??? The guage takes a while (3 minutes or so) to start to move, whereas it used to climb earlier then that, plus it flickers when it starts to move, which makes me think that it's something electrically related now? Your thoughts please gents? Thanks.

LAWRENCE
 
By way of a test, you could try using the spare sender connected to the system but dipped in hot water to see how it responds. Problem will be getting heat into the water while it's under the bonnet. If you took the kettle outside on an extension and poured the boiling water straight into a cup with the sender dangling in the top, that should give you roughly 90-100 degrees. Or you could use an old cup / bean tin filled with hot water then use a blow torch to heat the bottom of the tin.

I wouldn't recomend applying the blow torch directly to the sender ! :D

Hopefully you should be able to get the guage to move further up the scale, or at least prove that it doesn't.
 
I would imagine all movement is relative and it will still read higher if the engine overheats

Trouble is that you might assume it has gone back to reading normally .........

Is the petrol gauge acting similarly ?
 
Thanks for that Rick. It did move, but only very slightly into the green area. Ho hum, off to try a new guage now ???
 
Hi,

My V8 temp guage started to read low, then packed in recently. I looked in the (Haynes) manual & followed the procedure to connect the lead to earth & watch the guage.....In my case the guage went into the red which shows the sender is faulty. One new sender later from Wadhams I think (cost c. £10.00) & the guage is working properly.

Worth a try!

Phil.
 
I tried that (earthing the lead) on the old sender unit & the guage wenr right over into the red, the new sender unit does exactly the same. I was told that it just shows that the guage is working when it goes over like that? I'll give Ian a call tomorrow. Thanks.
LAWRENCE
 
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