Hey this week ive been with this trouble :
Im not sure if the car is overheating or not
It has the thermostat on --and car full of water
the temp gauge shows normal..after a few blocks the temp raises to 260(max) and it turns to the middle for a few minutes and then got back to 260 ..i looked inside and touched the radiator cap and is really cold and so the engine กก
so whats going on here ????
am i overheating my car ??
is this thhermostat stuck?
malcfunction of sending unit ??
or the car is really overheated ก??????
H E L P กกก THANX

 

it should be just the gauge. But I don't know how to fix it. sorry,

 

I dunno about ur car, but mine does say 240 every once in a while. That can't be good, but I think its a load of crap. Dont always believe those oil pressure, gas, and temp guages. I feel that the tach, speedo, and voltages are always correct. Well, the oil pressure hasn't given me any crap. I guess what I am trying to say is dont believe the temp or gas guage. Only use it as a reference.

 

its probably the guage. i jus thad the same problem so i replaced it with an autometer guage. mine would jump up to 260 within like 2 minutes of starting the car in the morning after it sat for 10 hours or so. checked the radiator and it was flowing and i could feel it flowing through the hoses so i knew it wasnt the water pump. threw a thermometer in to check the temp and it was at 160-180 and the guage was pegged.

get a new guage.

 

Unfortunately, none of the responses actually addressed the problem...the temp sending unit is probably bad...

Or...the guage ground needs to be fixed. Either it is getting bad info from the sending unit or it is bad...typically the sending unit is bad before the guage itself actually dies.

Don't ASSume the guage is automatically bad...in most factory apps, it isn't.

 

PS...post this on the Cooling Board...it is there for exactly stuff like this...make use of it so it becomes permanent.

 

i like the way you slipped that ASSume part in there so slick-like...

i agree with you though and i dont know why this didnt come to mind seeing as how i had to replace basically every sending unit and sensor in my car when i got it.

p.s. maybe next time you can ASSume that it slipped our mind instead of ASSuming we're all idiots...

 

The problem is not that anyone is an idiot...just groupthink.

I wasn't trying to offend anyone...just making a point. And, yes, this have been covered a lot on the Cooling board already.

I was just pointing out that there are more parts to the system than just the guage...

Anyway...hope that helps solve the problem...

 

point taken... just didnt like the "***"ume part...

only reason i pointed out the guage exclusively is because its what im in the middle of replacing at the moment so it was on my mind and yes, like you said, i did replace the sender before i replaced the guage just to make sure.

mike

 

Don't forget the ground for the guage cluster as a possible option too...I have had a few older cars where the symptoms were erratic guage readings and running a new jumper ground wire to a known good ground solved the problem too....