Hey guys,

I've suspected the gauge on my knight rider electronics has been out of whack since installing it last year.

This week I've just fitted a 3 core champion radiator and it all seems good so far. Apart from my temp gauge telling me it's hot.

What I've done is go back to what I had set up on my 5.0 engine, I replaced the fan switch for another temp sender and ran a separate digital gauge and it worked great. I've reinstalled it this afternoon and it's reading about 20 degrees lower than my knight rider one. That's Celsius too ! So the standalone was sitting at 90 degrees celcius idiling in the garage with the coolant level not quite to the hot mark on the expansion bottle and the fans off. And that is plugged into the temp sender on the passenger side of the block.

The knight rider readout was telling me 119 degrees Celsius! I swapped the wires from each senders and the readouts were the same so it's not hotter on one side obviously.

So that's about 194 degrees F versus 244 degrees F ????

I'm pretty sure my standalone gauge is correct. I just wanted a second opinion.

I've also got a laser temp gun which gives me different readings depending on where I point it.

 

Are there any soldier joints in the wire? I had a soldier joint in my temp wire and the gauge was going all over the place

 

Point it at the Gooseneck, that's the proper place for water temp and also it may be the sending unit on the block that's not functioning properly.

 

I dont think so no, not that i can see. It goes up nice and steady and goes up and down when driving at different speeds as normal but it about 20 degrees hotter than what it really is

 

If i point it on the actual metal part of the thermostat housing, it will say 200 for example, if i point it at the intake right next to where the housing starts it will say 180, if i point it at the top hose it might say 160.

The sending unit is brand new, just fitted two of them yesterday. still get the same reading as my old one too so definitley not that.

 

I bought a new sender for mind a few weeks ago and it reads about 20 degrees hotter than my old one before it crapped out. The gauge is just reading resistance and the sender was made in Korea or China, I'm thinking quality control issue.

 

It's reading the same as my old one. And if I swap the wires over from sender to sender the gauges read the same, as in, the same difference. So I think both new senders are just fine.

It's either the gauge or there's a problem with the wire going to the main gauge. My aftermarket gauge that's wired to the 2nd sender on the passenger side of the block seems spot on