Temp Gauge sender resistance? 190E 1985

It's the sender. It's always the sender. How is the wire going to the sender? Typically because of the vibration they work-harden, crack get oil in there and all sorts of nastiness ensues. First thing I'd do is strip off the last 1/2" of wire and make a good clean soldered connection tothe connedctor then try it.

Thanks Richard. I'll try the wire next. Hopefully it's not the gauge.

I was expecting it was the sender, but if I unplug the wire from the sender, the gauge reads minimum. Then if I then ground the wire that was pulled off the sender, the gauge only reads about 40 degrees C. That sounds to me like it's most likely the wire or gauge. Come to think of it, occasionally the gauge bounces around wildly, so maybe it's a break or bad connection in the wire, hopefully near the sender where I can get at it.

Dave

Richard Sext> >

That test certainly rules out the sender as the culprit...

If you have access to the rear of the gauge you can try running another wire to ground from the gauge and see if that drives it all the way up as it should...

If that works, then replacing the wire to the sender is a good solution. Marty

Yup, classic sign. Both my temperature and oil pressure gauges did this and in both casaes it was the wire's connection to the sender (really easy to fix on a 126)