Dash Gauge showing hot or reading high
Jan 17, 2007 | 08:10 PM
#1
Dash Gauge showing hot or reading high
I'm posting this to help people out if they ever come across this problem.
It first started out as a small rise in temp while driving around. My car ( 2005 MR ) has never showed even 1/2 way on the dash gauge and never above 185 in logged temps (untuned). Next day the gauge showed a quick rise to normal then climbed close to full hot. Driving around the gauge would rise and fall but never below 3/4 hot.
I logged temps and found the temps ranging up to 194. Now i had just flashed a custom image 3 days before from Jestr. And I had replaced the turbo restrictor and solenoid pills since the idiot who owned the car before me had removed them.
Still with normal boost, 194 is OK. So something was wrong.
So I started investigating. I found some evidence of old coolant dried up on the coolant hose under the thermostat housing. No evidence of leaks around the dash gauge sensor and it was dry. I swapped out the radiator cap and retested . Same thing very hot. I suspected maybe the system needed bleeding so i tried that. Still hot.
After leaving the car overnight, i returned to the problem today. Without starting the car, I turned on the ignition and found the gauge reading right in the middle of the range....this on an ice cold car, not running !!!!!!
I went back to the dash gauge sensor ( it is on the lower part of the thermostat housing on the front bumper side ). This time i removed the connector after unwrapping the tape that holds the wire to the connector and pressing the release tab while pulling on the connector. I then found dried coolant on the sensor tang and inside the connector housing. I thoroughly cleaned both then blasted them out with electrical contact cleaner. The coolant had come from the bolt directly over the sensor holding the housing to the block. Nothing from the hose coming from the T-stat housing to the upper radiator outlet.
After re-assembly, the problem is fixed!!! Gauge now reads on C when cold and a little below the middle when running around. And the readings are stable rather than drifting up and down.
So for those people who think they have a problem with the engine running hot and do not have access to a datalogger, I would suggest doing what i did.
Note: check the gauge position when the engine is cold. If the gauge reads high or anywhere but cold then my fix will work. If the gauge reads cold as it is supposed to, something else is wrong. I would suggest pressure testing the cooling system first to eliminate leaks and making sure the radiator is not blocked by something and fans are working properly.
Milburn
It first started out as a small rise in temp while driving around. My car ( 2005 MR ) has never showed even 1/2 way on the dash gauge and never above 185 in logged temps (untuned). Next day the gauge showed a quick rise to normal then climbed close to full hot. Driving around the gauge would rise and fall but never below 3/4 hot.
I logged temps and found the temps ranging up to 194. Now i had just flashed a custom image 3 days before from Jestr. And I had replaced the turbo restrictor and solenoid pills since the idiot who owned the car before me had removed them.
Still with normal boost, 194 is OK. So something was wrong.
So I started investigating. I found some evidence of old coolant dried up on the coolant hose under the thermostat housing. No evidence of leaks around the dash gauge sensor and it was dry. I swapped out the radiator cap and retested . Same thing very hot. I suspected maybe the system needed bleeding so i tried that. Still hot.
After leaving the car overnight, i returned to the problem today. Without starting the car, I turned on the ignition and found the gauge reading right in the middle of the range....this on an ice cold car, not running !!!!!!
I went back to the dash gauge sensor ( it is on the lower part of the thermostat housing on the front bumper side ). This time i removed the connector after unwrapping the tape that holds the wire to the connector and pressing the release tab while pulling on the connector. I then found dried coolant on the sensor tang and inside the connector housing. I thoroughly cleaned both then blasted them out with electrical contact cleaner. The coolant had come from the bolt directly over the sensor holding the housing to the block. Nothing from the hose coming from the T-stat housing to the upper radiator outlet.
After re-assembly, the problem is fixed!!! Gauge now reads on C when cold and a little below the middle when running around. And the readings are stable rather than drifting up and down.
So for those people who think they have a problem with the engine running hot and do not have access to a datalogger, I would suggest doing what i did.
Note: check the gauge position when the engine is cold. If the gauge reads high or anywhere but cold then my fix will work. If the gauge reads cold as it is supposed to, something else is wrong. I would suggest pressure testing the cooling system first to eliminate leaks and making sure the radiator is not blocked by something and fans are working properly.
Milburn
Last edited by wrcwannabe; Jan 18, 2007 at 10:00 AM. Reason: additionall info
