Re: Help! Temp. Gauge....

[Andrew Duane USG/PE <duane@zk3.dec.com>]

Hairy green toads from Mars made Paul Royal say:

> Hi Folks,
> 
> My recently acquired 1990 90Q20v came with a temp gauge that was not   
> working correctly....realizing this....I added this repair to the list of   
> things to
> have remedied by Euro-Sport Automotive in Merrimack, NH.  I was told that   
> the cause was a malfunctioning temp sensor switch as it had been in my
> '87 5Ks.  When I say that it was broken.....the gauge would only register   
> a few degrees above ice cold and the fan would not trigger even when the   
> engine was idling in traffic.

This does not sound like the temp sender. I had both of mine fail,
the 100Q and the 90Q20V. The symptom is that it either reads "on"
(where it should be), or "off" (dead-zero, pegged on left). As the
failure gets worse, it spends more time at "off".

This could be an open thermostat (they've been known to do that).
It could also be a malfunctioning gauge.

If you have a good thermometer (like a meat thermo), get the car up
to operating temperature, pop the temp sender, and stick the thermometer
in. It should be 160 degrees (maybe 180). If it is around there, it's
your gauge. If it's around 100 or less, it's the thermostat.

-- 

Andrew L. Duane (JOT-7)			duane@zk3.dec.com
Digital Equipment Corporation		(603)-881-1294
110 Spit Brook Road
M/S ZKO3-3/U14
Nashua, NH    03062-2698

Only my cat shares my opinions, and she's too heavy to care.