At 04:16 PM 5/1/98 -0500, Olson, Scott wrote:
>Today is ther day I am asking all my questions =)
>
>My water temp guage used to work (when I bought the car)
>I removed the dash because you always have to remove the dash when you
>buy a new used vehicle because there is always neat stuff behind the
>dash. I also have done some minor engine work/rewiring. So I have in
>essence most likely disconnected or damaged my water temp sender/guage.
>
>
>Does anyone know a proceedure for testing a water temp gauge?
1. I'd start by disconnecting the low voltage supply wire to the coil.
This way you don't have to worry about the coil over heating, etc.
2. Turn the ignition switch to on. Did the guage move? There is a
Green wire comming out the back of the guage, this should be the
wire that goes to the sending unit. I beleive this wire is held
in place with a nut. Remove the wire if possible. Take an aligator
clip and connect to this terminal. I'm not sure what the resistance
of the sending unit is.
a. If you are an electronics hobbiest and want to play it safe,
take a pot and connect the aligator clip to the wiper lead.
Take another lead and connect to ground. As you turn the
shaft of the pot, the guage should move up and down.
b. If you don't have a bunchk of old electronic parts laying around,
Quickly touch the free end of the aligator clip to a ground.
The guage should go from one end of the scale to the other.
If either of these test show movement in the guage, the guage is fine!
>Does anyone know where the water temp sender is located?
It is located near the thermostat housing. Look on the drivers side
of the eng, about in the middle, and behind the distributor.
>Does anyone know how many/what color wires should be attached/pluged
>into the water temp sender?
>Does anyone know a method for testing a water temp sender?
Start by testing the guage. Next find what you think is the wire
between the sending unit and the guage. Is the wire broken? To
test this, use an ohm meter and ensure the wire had 0 resistance.
Next start the car and warm it up. If the temp guage doesn't move
the sending unit is probably bad. You can also check the sending
unit by removing the wire from it. With the engine cold, measure
the resistance between the lead on the top of the sending unit
and ground. Leaving the ohm meter connected to the sending unit,
and the wire to the guage disconnected, start the eng. As the eng.
runs, and heat up the resistance should change. If it doesn't,
there's a problem.
To check for calibration, you will need to remove the guage, and
sending unit. You will also need a 12V battery and some aligator
clips. Now, connect the guage to the battery with the clip leads.
next connect another clip lead from the guage to the sending unit.
Put a couple of cups of en. oil in a small pot and put it on the
stove. Put a cooking thermometer and the sending unit in the pot
of oil. Now turn on the heat. Watch the temp guage as the oil
heats up. You will assume that the cooking thermometer is accurate,
and use it as you ref. Now at 160-180 on the thermometer, what does
the guage read, also 212, 220 and 240.
John
John T. Blair WA4OHZ email: jblair@exis.net
Va. Beach, Va Phone: (757) 495-8229
48 TR1800 65 Morgan 4/4 Series V
71 Saab Sonett III 75 Bricklin SV1 77 Spitfire
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