escowop

Hello,

I am having a problem with my hatchback, and I am looking for any suggestions or comments you may have to offer.

My temperature gauge never goes all the way down. When I get in my car to go to work in the morning and turn my car on, the temperature jumps to nearly halfway right when I start it. By the time I get to work, the temp gauge is all the way up on the red line of hot.

I just replaced the thermostat and the temp sensor, but it didn't do anything.

What is strange is that the car doesn't seem like it's overheating. I have never broken down or anything while driving it like this. The hose that goes from the engine to the radiator is hot, but the hose that goes from the radiator back to the motor is cool, like it's doing what it's supposed to do.

The fan never seems to kick on, either, which is strange. Even if the car is not overheating, shouldn't the fan come on every once in a while to at least keep the car at a normal temperature?

I am going to be selling my car soon, but I don't want to try and sell it while it has this issue. Anyone that test drives my car will see that it looks like it's overheating, and probably won't want to buy it. I also don't want to have to do any costly repairs on it.

Can anyone think of what may be causing this? Bad gauge? Clogged radiator? Etc?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

escowop

No?

madjap

Did you replace the temp sensor or the temp sender?

The sender for the temp gauge is located below the distributor, and has one wire (yellow / green, I think) going to it.

To check it, measure its resistance to ground when the engine is cold, and it should measure 142 ohm (ish). at operating temperature, it should measure between 49 - 32 ohms. If it test okay, I would bet that your gauge is bad.



JAP

escowop

I replaced the sensor. At Napa, they actually called it a switch. It is located in the same spot the thermostat is located.

Thanks for the suggestion!

itslogz

What you replaced was your switch that turns the radiator fan on/off....

escowop

that makes sense. it didn't fix it, though

virgineg6

i would say swap out the cluster

Former User

As mentioned, the ECT switch on the thermostat housing has nothing to do with the cluster temp gauge. Below the distributor are two sensors. One has two wires (ECT sensor) and the other has one wire (temp sending unit). The temp sending unit sends temp signals to the cluster temp gauge. If you unplug the sending unit, does the cluster temp gauge now read cold when the key is turned to ON(II)? If so, try cleaning the sending unit plug. If that does not fix the problem, replace the sending unit.

escowop

I will go and try it.

Thanks for the help!

escowop

It didn't do anything. Below the distributor, there were 2 clips. 1 had two green wires, and 1 had one greenone and one yellow one. They clipped together, so I unclipped them, turned the car on, and the templevel stayed the same.

typr2nv94

This sensor is the single wire that goes onto a nippled sensor on the dizzy side. If u pull it off your temp gauge on the dash should stop working. Again, its a single wire going onto a sensor on the side of the head below the dizzy to the right.

Former User

Sorry, I'm unclear about what you are saying.

The 1-wire temp sending unit has a Yel/Grn wire.

escowop

I didn't see anything with a single wire. There were 2 plugs that went into one another, each of them had 2 wires on them. 1 had a yellow/green wire, and 1 had 2 green wires.

Former User

These seem to be contradictory statements. Post some clear pictures.

escowop

At first, I thought this was what you were talking about:

See how they clip together, and 1 has 2 green wires, and 1 has 1 yellow/1 green

escowop

Then, I looked even more underneath the distributor, and came across this slew of wires:

escowop

And I found a single wire, which I think is what you were talking about:
\
If it is the right wire (the yellow one with the black cover on it), it looks like I'll have to take of the distributor to get to it.

Former User

^That's the one. No need to remove the distributor. Just unplug it.

escowop

Is there a button on it somewhere to make it unclip, or can I just pull on it? That thing is super hard to get to.

I just took the gauge cluster all the way out, pushed the temp dial all the way down to zero, plugged it back in, and it went right back to warm again without ever starting the car.

It has to be either what you are talking about, or a bad gauge. I don't see what else it could be.

Former User

Just pull the connector straight off. You can damage the gauge by pushing on the needle.

escowop

That was a big old negative. I unplugged it, went into the car, turned the ignition to II, and nothing changed on the temp. In fact, the temp dial is now set at almost H after messing with the gauge earlier.

Looks like it's the gauge, I would guess.

Thank you for your help, I really appreciate it.

Former User

Either the gauge is bad or the Yel/Grn wire has a short to ground. The latter can be tested with a multimeter.

EJeff8

^Even if he did that, it sounds like he broke his gauge messing with it.

escowop

I broke a gauge that was already broken then.

EJeff8

^You think it's broken. You should've listened to Ron and checked for a short.