Club 80-90 Forums

Hi

My temperature gauge has stoped working. It went from working ok, to the needle only going a quarter of the way, but now the needle does not move at all. I have checked the red/yellow wire (the correct one according to the Haynes manual) that goes into the connecter behind the gauge, and there is a current of 6 to 12 volts there.
Is it likely that the gauge itself is broke?
The van is a 1986 t25 with a 1.9 DG.

Thanks

Neil

Neil:
Just had the same thing happen to me. Figured it was a bad gauge or worse a bad sensor. Since I had just been working inside the dash pod I pulled the Tachometer out again and rechecked the Temp gauge and the connections to it. Put it all back together and had same problem. I was about ready to try a different gauge and then decided to check out the rest of the system. I checked the schematics and located the Temp Sender on the back side of the Thermostat housing. Pulled out the Deck Lid an found the housing on the Left side Fount corner. The Temp Sensor is hiding on the back side out of sight. I found the wire leading up to it and reached around back. It was a Bayonet type solder less connector just slid onto the Temp Sensor button, totally exposed to the elements. When I pulled it off it was covered in blue green corrosion. Vdub has a tester box your supposed to plug in back there and test out the circuit minus the Temp Sensor, but I don't have one. So I just decided to clean things up a bit and used a small wire brush to make it look like metal again and cleaned the Temp Sensor post as best I could since I couldn't see it. Pinched down on the connector a tad just to make sure it would have a tight fit on the Temp Sensor post and plugged it back on. Wala !! Works perfect now. Actual seems to be a lot more responsive than I remember it being in the past. Funny what a little dirt and corrosion can do.

Peace
David

Hi,
One thing that you can try if you have no joy, is remove the cover from the instrument panel and just try pushing the flexable circuit board towards the back of the speedo.....I had the same problem with mine and after a few days of testing senders and wiring, I finaly found that the circuit board had warped due to the last owner leaving it standing in the sun for months. Worth a try and it only takes a few minutes.
Cheers
Dave

You should have a steady reading of around 10v at the red/yellow wire. I would run the engine to a reasonable operating temperature and measure the senders resistance at the Junction box in the engine bay (yours being an 86 should have one). Help and 'how to' in this thread..........

https://club8090.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=48092

Just so that nobody makes the same mistake as me! I have a 2.1 petrol and it seems that the connector is different on this model. I felt around the back of the thermostat and found the sender with wiring duly attached. There didn't appear to be a retaining clip on the connector but I did find a type of sprung circlip, which i duly pulled, only to release a load of coolant (I had only changed it and bled the system two days previously) It may be just the fact that I'm not tops on things mechanical but I hate the thought of another member having that desperate feeling of wishing they had a third hand!!!