Club 80-90 Forums

Ok Brothers temperature gauge not working, never has worked in over five years of owning the van.

I read up on some fixes last night and did as follows......

remove plug to sensor and earth against the block, firstly which one is the temperature sensor. There were two sensors attatched to the thermostat housing, a red one on the side looking from the engine bay, and a black one behind underneath.






I took a piece of wire stuck it in all connections individually and touched the other end to the head and the needle didn't move with the ignition on. From what I have read this means the gauge is faulty is that correct? fuel gauge works fine by the way.

secondly the red plug that goes to the side of the thermostat housing seems to have a connection missing.


I can see it at the bottom of plug and I'm pretty sure wire was touching.
Any ideas?
and what colour sensor does what?
Many thanks Rob.

petrol 2.1 2wd?

oops I forgot I wrote it on the post in mechanical.

1.9DG 2WD.
Rob.

Replace the connector - you will never get a good connection with that - Junior Power Timer LIKE THIS, assuming you still have two wires entering that corroded one. You could just replace the pins but complete new one will ensure that you make a watertight connection. (£3.45)

i'm also trying to work out what the red and black sensor do? -
same set up as yours - i had an additional problem - a dribble from the perished o ring on the red sensor -
sorted with a brickwerks repair kit -

Do you need the £60 tool to fit them?
If so I'll try and get one second hand and solder it in.
Rob.

are they both temperature sensors? (the red n black in the photos above).
if so - why two?
trying to build up a little knowledge here...

I know the one facing the front of the van (black) is the one for the gauge.

The other sensor is for ????? (fuel injection temp sensor according to Haynes, but I ain't convinced ) If correct then it might be redundant on a carb engine ? Could be manifold heater ? Someone will be along soon that knows

The second Temp sender (facing to the side of your van) is a Temp based Switch - it controls a relay which supplies the Manifold pre-heater circuit.

The one facing the cab is a 'resistor' whose resistance reduces with an increase in temp - as Ghost mentioned, this is the one that connects to the temp gauge. The colour code for the wire to the temp gauge is Yellow/Red and the other wire is an earth (as the thermostat housing is plastic).

The Wiki describes how you can test the temp gauge at the fuse box for vans made after 1986/7. If it works using that test then either the Connector at the temp sender is faulty or the sender itself.

thank you for all your comments and expertise
lhd -
are you sorted yet?

edoh wrote:thank you for all your comments and expertise
lhd -
are you sorted yet?

Not yet as it's my brothers van I have to wait for him to come round, and he's a slacker.
I found the wiki post, even though I couldn't find it the other day so will give that a go.
Rob.

Hi - I have same non functioning temp gauge - have looked for Wiki info on testing at fuseboard but cant see it for looking - can anyone point me in right direction or add a link please - thanks

https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/Co ... alfunction" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Rob.

Thanks Rob

I so needed to find this thread. Was bugging me as to why I had a red sensor too. The one at the back is fiddly to get to.