No temp gauge

[meggles]

My new van's temp gauge doesn't work properly. The needle moves a fraction I think, less than 16th inch (sorry, oldie). It didn't overheat after a 150 mile run. The fuel gauge is fine. The red light flashes when ignition turned on but not again (think I'm right that the red light is for water temp). Heaters were fine all the way. Could it be just the temp gauge itself, or is there a more common fault? Any ideas appreciated. I've checked WIKI and Tech but can't find an answer.
Thanks in advance.

[dansimpson]

Does the gauge go full over if you take off the sender wire and earth it?
If so, minw was the same, even after changing the sender unit, turned out to be a poorly earthed housing, check with multimeter from housing to main engine, you should have close to zero ohms reading.
Dan

[meggles]

Haven't tried anything yet. 'twas dark when I got time to look. I'll try that tomorrow. Thanks.

[t25 dubber]

I have the same problem but mine dosent work full stop. As its a diesel on startup it takes a while for the glowplugs to heat up until the light goes off but the needle dont move. Since i had the van it never worked. It was only yesterday it overheated. The water tanks were both dry because of a bad hose leaking throughout the short journey. Fixed now but i need that temp gauge fixed as its always the possibility of happening again and im not going to be outside a house with water to top up with. The electrics in the engine bay are spaghetti. Its a lost game to try and sort it. How much am i looking for a new temp gauge and wire to the engine if thats what i need after a check?

[ricicles]

have a look on wiki, you can test the temp guage at the fuse box if its not the guage then prob the sender in the thermostat housing. hope this helps