HELP: Installing Electric Temperature Gauge in 1992 240

If you install a new gauge, it would be very unlikely to be compatible with the existing sender. The sender is under the intake manifold #3 runner, look for the yellow wire.

Thanks Mike.

I found the sender. Thank you for your feedback and your help.

Do you know of a way to test the resistance in the sender to make sure it's working properly? Is there a way to remove or ground out the yellow wire to see how the existing temperature gauge responds?

Thanks again...

Ray

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Hi,

The gauge and sensor are probably both good, there is a "compensation" board on these cars that always goes bad (it's designed to make the gauge lie about the temperature anyway) that can be bypassed. IPD has a kit to do that:

55&NodeIDF68&RootIDb9 Best,

Larry

Fort Worth wrote:

Hi,

The gauge and sensor are probably both good, there is a "compensation" board on these cars that always goes bad (it's designed to make the gauge lie about the temperature anyway) that can be bypassed. IPD has a kit to do that:

55&NodeIDF68&RootIDb9 Best,

Larry

Fort Worth wrote:

*That* explains why I noticed my temp gauge never ever ever swings high or low from the 9:00 position, even if the A/C is kicking on and off in hot weather.... So if it did actually start to move higher, how hot would the coolant temp be ?

On Tue, 07 Oct 2003 00:41:19 GMT, David wibbled about:

I was in a Volvo specialist the other day where they were taking an engine out of an V70 that had cooked. Apparently the temperature guage moved rapidly upwards when one of the hoses blew off and dumped the water. The driver saw this and started to slow down but then the guage moved back downwards.

They tell me that the ECU interpretes the temp reading and then displays it on the dash which is why it never moves. However, if it rises too high then the ECU can decide that the sender is faulty and just ignore it returning the guage to normal. Result - cooked head!!!!

Sean

Morons. Isn't the whole point of a temperature gauge to see the small fluxuations and alter your driving accordingly? Especially in an emergency situation like you posted, you WANT the gauge to show that it is climbing fast and not going down.

That information would have been enough to save that engine.

Funny, though - it would cost them less to make it the old way and it would be more reliable.

As everyone has already pointed out, 240 temp gages are notorious for problems, but most (probably 98%) of the time it's the temp comp board, and that usually can be fixed just by cleaning the contacts. In over 20 years of driving 240s, and now have 4, have only replaced one temp gage, have replaced lots of temp comp boards (before I found out about cleaning), and for past several years have revived most just by cleaning and dielectric grease. If you do need to replace gage, used OEM are generally around $20. The test for the gage is easy and can be found in Bentley manual, which is a must for 240 owners.

Actually it costs more the old way, but for a totally different reason. The old way, people notice the small fluctuations, then complain to their dealer who just replaces some parts under warranty to make the person happy. This is paid for by Volvo. The new way, they don't notice the fluctuations, so they don't complain, and therefore Volvo doesn't have to pay anything.

In this particular case, the check engine light should have come on with a temperature sensor code. Which goes to show you, if the check engine light comes on, it could be something not worth worrying about, or it could mean that your engine has 15 seconds to live!

  David wrote: Larry McDonald wrote:

there is a "compensation" board

hot would the coolant temp be ? I think it's more a time/temperature thing, if it's running slightly hot for a long enough time, the comp board will allow the gauge to show it.  This was done because so many folk will bring the car in for service if the needle is ever above it's "normal" spot, so the comp board lies about the current temperature.  I've noticed, now that my car has the comp board yanked, that when I hit the freeway offramp and stop, the gauge will go up to about the 10:00 position for about 30 seconds before going back down.  There must be some threshold, tho, 'cos my car was always rock solid at 9:00 with the comp board, and actually runs slightly higher than that normally with the board removed.  On cold winter days the temps run at about the 8:00 position. Newer Fords with temp gauges don't even have analog senders.  There are two temp switches on the engine, one that sends the gauge to the middle, and one that sends it into the red. The comp board's connections, as found on the 240, are really a work of crap.  In my family there are five 240s ranging from an '86 to a '92, and they have all had comp board problems. When my mom's '86 was new, they and a couple of friends were driving across the desert when the comp board decided to act loopy and show an overheating condition.  Since they were miles from anywhere, they opened the windows in 110 degree heat, cranked up the heater to help cool the car, and kept going.  By the time they go to town, the 70-something friend in the back seat suffered from heat stroke and they got to spend the rest of the day in the ER.  Of course, nothing was actually wrong with the engine and we weren't yet aware that the temp gauge lies.  This is why I prefer to remove and bypass the comp board rather than try and fix it, I'd much rather know what's going on now and not trust a device that's sole purpose is to lie.

--------------E2E850697121D35DBF5C1D30--

Hi Fort,

The board, as far as I know, never fails. It's always the contacts that do.

However, I prefer to know what the temps are, so I jumpered my board out. As I recall, it takes two jumpers. If you can follow the traces on the back of the circuit board, it should be easy to figure out. I did publish on usenet about 15 years ago the pins to jump. :) Maybe google groups would still have it...

Best,

Larry

Fort Worth wrote: