This past summer, my water temperature gauge started acting a little weird. When you go to crank over the car, the temp gauge needle stands straight up and remains there after the car is started. I took the cluster cover off, and I can unlodge the needle, but it just does it again the next time I start the car.

At first, I thought it may have something to do with the LT1 swap / wiring, but after talking to my friend's dad who has an 88 stock IROC, I realized that it might be a problem with just aging gauges because his is also stuck completely vertical.

Anyone have any suggestions?

 

what if you put somthing blocking it from going straight up ? say at the 260 mark put a pin so it cant pass it

 

Yea, I thought about that, but Im not sure exactly how to go about it. Like, how would it be attached? I was wondering if maybe I could pull the gauge out and maybe check the 'inards' of it for something.

 

You could try a filing a little on whatever it's catching on.

 

The gauge sending unit is broke or the wrong kind. Get a new one that works for gauges, the idiot light one is different and will do exactly what your's is doing.

 

It sounds more like the needle is swinging too far and getting stuck when the key is turned past the bulb-test position, more than a problem with the sender.

 

That only happens when somebody has been in there and run thier fingers around the gauges like a bull in a china shop.

Look for sighns first before dismanteling the cluster.

Bet it's the sensor being wrong.

 

Or when the gauge gets old.