A while back I replaced the Timing belt, water pump, etc., and broken temp sender. When the motor is fully warmed, the gauge points about a needle width below the red hot zone.
Put a new thermostat in it. Same thing.
The gauge showed normal temps (9:00) before the sender broke.
I've poked around the motor with an infrared thermometer. Thermostat housing, block side near sender, head, etc. Nothing more than
165-170°F. Top hose is not firm like I would expect if it were really hot. Doesn't steam, boil, or smell hot.So what do you think? The wrong sender? Bad replacement sender? Gauge got trashed by the broken sender? I'm baking my motor?
I know the later cars had a circuit to normalize the temp reading that sometimes goes bonkers. If my googlings are correct, this year didn't have that.
What resistance should the sender read when it's working? Maybe I can put a meter on it and see if it's telling the truth.
(1983 245)