Club 80-90 Forums

Hi guys new owner and member here. I bought my 1.9 petrol van 2 weeks ago and noticed when driving back that the temp gauge didn't work. I had a look in the engine bay to see if I could find anything obvious and straight away I did. I found this,



Assuming this is the temperature sensor I started looking for a plug that would plug into it. After a vet quick route around I found this





Not really knowing too much about this engine yet I asked a friend of mine if this was the correct plug for the sender and he said possibly. The only way to find out would be to short it out and check to see if the gauge rises right up which I did and nothing happened. The issue I have is that it only just reaches and there is a 3rd yellow and red wire taped with it, the actual plug had a male and female spade connector on it but the sensor has 2 male spades. Just wondered if you guys may have more of an idea?

That is the termoswitch for the electrc manifold heater looks like someone has been bodged the wiring for some reason.
As you have an early engine the temperature sender is mounted hear.
Touch the cable terminal to the bare metal engine with the ignition switched on the temperature gauge should rise to maximum.

Thanks buddy. I will check that out. I'm presuming by the look of your engine that the yellow/red wire is the cable for the sender. What does the manifold heater switch do then? Engine seems to run fine with it unplugged?

There is an electric heater under manifold below the carb (thickish red cable going to it )that helps atomise the mixture while the engine is warming up and stops the engine stalling and flat spots in cold weather. Yours may have been permanently switched on if the wiring has been tampered with.

Ah so i have a sneaky suspicion that my Mac is running s bit rich. Would this be caused by this? Sorry for the million and one questions

Could be if the heater is not working and the mixture richened to compensate. But it could be for a lot of reasons, something wrong or someone's lack of knowledge/care.

A gas analyser will confirm your mixture (any MOT Station will have one, CO = 1.5% plus or minus 0.5% HC = 300ppm.)

My engine has run without these heaters, but it doesn't like it.
Much better if they work.
The switch also turns on the heater in the auto choke and carb de-icer.

Thanks for the info guys. now I'm in the right direction I should be able to sort this little issue! Much appreciated