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erratic temp gauge - '90 maxima

1990 Nissan Maxima - 6 cylinder, automatic - 250k+. I was coming home from the beach (car had been sitting for about 3 hours) and had been on the road 10 minutes @ 45-60mph when the temp gauge flew up to H and then immediately came back to its normal position. It did this at least twice. I pulled over, left the engine running and looked under the hood - all seemed ok; no leaks; no steaming; temp gauge remained in its normal position. Drove the rest of the way home (another 60 minutes at 50 mph)and nothing else happened. When the gauge flew up to H, it was like it has no resistance, as if it was broken, acting erratic, or something.

Any ideas on why this would happen?

Someone suggested an electrical short ?? I just had all the spark plugs and wires replaced in the last 2 weeks.

Thank you in advance for your help. Judyg

Reply to
judyg
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Couple of things you can do: Replace the temp sending unit, the coolant temp sensor, unscrew the air bleed screw on top of the intake manifold to allow any steam/air bubble to blow off. These items may eliminate an abnormal signal to the gauge if the gauge is still working properly. If not, you either have a bad gauge or your water pump may be bad. That's probably unlikely tho if it's not dripping or making any weird noises. When you say "flew up" how fast would that be??

Chris

90 & 94 GXE's
Reply to
Chris H

Thanks for the ideas. The mechanic did testing and found that engine system is working fine; so replaced the sensor that provides info to the temp gauge. Problem reocurred. After discussing, moe tests, and hearing about additional intermittent things that have gone haywire with fuel gauge and odometer, he is going to replace the voltage regulator that is connected to all of these gauges. I am hopeful this solves the problem.

temp gauge "flew up" - when the problem occurs, the needle goes from its current normal position to H in less than 1 second, and in less time than it takes to travel a couple .10 miles it is back to normal, and may not do this again for a day.

Reply to
judyg

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