allright i may have found my overheating troubles. My stock gauge will read 240+ while my aftermarket one will read from 190 to 210. the stcok gauge is located about two inches from the exhaust header. while my aftermarket one is on top of my thermostat. which one should i go by?

 

I would be more prone to trust the aftermarket guage. My Auto meter guage is more consistent and shows changes quicker. Plus my stock guage will stay very low while cruising, and then at idle it goes much higher...Just my $.02

 

Deffinatly trust the aftermarket my stock gauge just kinda floats around (it seems the more right turns i make my engine runs cooler)

 

Now hold on there.... Isn't the stock sensor mounted on the bottom of the engine inside a drilled hole? On top of the theermostat doesn't exactly sound like a "hot" place to mount a sensor to me. It probably is accurate, but it's not measuring the same point.

 

The stock gague sensor in a 3rd gen is mounted in the driver's side cylinder head- between exhaust ports 1 and 3. Even if it IS reading correctly, it will typically read 10-15* higher in that location than in the intake water jacket crossover. Beyond that difference, you're usually dealing with gague/sensor inaccuracies.