After Market Temp Gauge Problem

cornish rattler · Jul 2, 2016

Hi guys

Just fitted a Durite water temp gauge today, used the wiring as fitted to the old landy gauge +ive -ive but the gauge doesn't seem to be working i have removed the wire from the temp sender and it seems to want to stay at cold as though the gauge isn't working and running the engine from cold for a good 1/2 hour the gauge stayed at cold, have i wired it up wrong or is the gauge not working, what do you think

Kwakerman · Jul 2, 2016

have you tried shorting the sender wire to the engine, that should make it rise to full scale deflection and prove the indicator is wired correctly. Does it need a matching sender or does it say the gauge will work with the original sender? Senders vary quite a lot between manufacturers so you need to make sure yours matches the gauge to get any / accurate readings.

GATSO · Jul 2, 2016

cornish rattler · Jul 2, 2016

Kwakerman said:
have you tried shorting the sender wire to the engine, that should make it rise to full scale deflection and prove the indicator is wired correctly. Does it need a matching sender or does it say the gauge will work with the original sender? Senders vary quite a lot between manufacturers so you need to make sure yours matches the gauge to get any / accurate readings.

Sorry that's what I meant to say yes I have shorted it out and it stays in the cold, it came with a sender but was too small to fit the engine think it was more for a car / boat kit and forgot to say its for a 2.5td 90 with a Disco 200tdi engine just fitted, I did buy a Def 200tdi sender but it was the wrong thread so using the sender that came with the engine for now, would it do any harm swapping the wiring over

Kwakerman · Jul 2, 2016

Sounds like you have a power issue with the gauge, check you are getting 12 to14v at the gauge connections (and that the polarity is correct). If you definitely
have power at the gauge try shorting the sender input wire (at the gauge so as to eliminate the vehicle sender wire) to the negative terminal and see if it rises, if not it sounds like you have a duff gauge, if it dos then you have a broken wire from the gauge to sender. If the supplied sender is too small for the disco thermostat housing that is a good thing, I would get (or get someone to machine up) an adaptor that screws in to the t/stat housing and then fit the correct sender to the adaptor.

cornish rattler · Jul 3, 2016

Kwakerman said:
Sounds like you have a power issue with the gauge, check you are getting 12 to14v at the gauge connections (and that the polarity is correct). If you definitely
have power at the gauge try shorting the sender input wire (at the gauge so as to eliminate the vehicle sender wire) to the negative terminal and see if it rises, if not it sounds like you have a duff gauge, if it dos then you have a broken wire from the gauge to sender. If the supplied sender is too small for the disco thermostat housing that is a good thing, I would get (or get someone to machine up) an adaptor that screws in to the t/stat housing and then fit the correct sender to the adaptor.

Your right i used my test lamp to check for power so this morning i put my meter on it and it reads 11.30V so i will look at that tomorrow while i am off

Kwakerman · Jul 3, 2016

cornish rattler said:
Your right i used my test lamp to check for power so this morning i put my meter on it and it reads 11.30V so i will look at that tomorrow while i am off

I would have thought 11.3 would have been enough to get some form of reading when you short the sender wire to earth. Worst case scenario, remove the gauge and try it on the bench using a good battery, if it still wont read with the sender wire shorted to the -ve terminal then the gauge is a dud.

cornish rattler · Jul 4, 2016

I have half sorted it now i had thought it was as kwakerman said but it was me not reading the distructions properly and partially wired it up wrong so the temp gauge is now working but works from cold to hot so atm the gauge is reading hot when its really at normal running temp so as kwakerman said i will get an adaptor made up to suit the sender and thermostate housing threads

After Market Temp Gauge Problem

cornish rattler

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Kwakerman

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GATSO

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cornish rattler

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Kwakerman

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cornish rattler

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Kwakerman

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cornish rattler

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