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Temp Gauge Flicks
Greenie - 19/9/14 at 11:48 AM

Temp Gauge needle rises then starts to flick back to zero periodically, any ideas please?

Davey D - 19/9/14 at 12:15 PM

Poor ground connection to sensor?

r1_pete - 19/9/14 at 12:28 PM

What type of Gauges, do they need / do you have a voltage regulator / stabilizer fitted?

Daddylonglegs - 19/9/14 at 01:23 PM

Try shorting the sender connector to earth and see if the needle goes full sweep and holds.

If the electrical side seems fine, then I would maybe think about looking for an airlock. Our Discovery did this a few weeks back and eventually overheated. Luckily I stopped it before any serious damage was done, but that was a massive airlock in the system. They are known to be a b1tch to bleed so I didn't do a good enough job last time I renewed the fluid

HTH

Greenie - 19/9/14 at 01:50 PM

When I earth the wire to sender the gauge goes to the end and stays, regulator installed but not sure if it's wired correctly?

r1_pete - 19/9/14 at 01:56 PM

OK, looks like the sensor or as DDL could be an airlock...

Do you have a diagram how the regulator is wired, assuming its the common or garden lucas reg, the male spades on the unit should go to +12v fused switched, the female spades go to the gauge, the regulator needs to be earthed - which may be your problem?

Greenie - 19/9/14 at 04:22 PM

Checked the wires to the regulator and they are showing no power, do I need and if so why..... Please excuse my ignorance, not brill with electris.

r1_pete - 19/9/14 at 04:40 PM

Somethings well amiss, if you earth the sensor it goes off scale, which I'd expect, so, if there is no power to the regulator, where is the gauge getting its power from? do you have a pic or a circuit drawing?

The gauge should have regulated power approx 8 - 10 volts on one pin, the other pin goes to the sensor, in which resistance varies with temp and positions the gauge needle on the scale.... appols if that was a suck eggs statement

Greenie - 19/9/14 at 05:50 PM

Thanks Pete, no not at about sucking eggs, the car is an old car with a mixture of looms in it, it's a mix of triumph and ford, it runs a Zetec engine with mega jolt, I think the regulator on the car is left viper from the triumph set up, may even be better re wiring the gauge, my next plan is to go through the earth on the car to extent of pulling the dash.