Temp gauge wacko

[Chuck 98 RT/10]

Flutters a bit then pegs to the right at startup, as soon as it starts to gets warm, before the thermostat opens it is pegged at 250.

Sensor near the thermostat is good. What do I look for next?

 

[Martin]

Any chance the wire from the sensor to the gauge is grounding out someplace? Have you pulled the pigtail off and checked the resistance between the connector and the gauge to see if it flutters around when you start up (or otherwise move the wire around)? Could be as simple (and pain in the butt) as your wires chafing up against something. Hopefully the gauge didn't go bad on you - they're kind of a pain to remove.

By the way, all the gauges share the same power supply, so the likelihood that the power to the gauge is bad is pretty low - you'd be seeing all kinds of crazy behavior on all the gauges if it was. If the resistance between the connector and the gauge looks fine, the next place I'd look is the ground to the gauge.

Edit: One other thing to make your life a bit easier in troubleshooting this - the wire that sends the signal to the gauge is the Violet/Yellow one (plug B on the connector, I think).

 

[RobZilla]

http://forums.viperclub.org/rt-10-gts-discussions/620645-bad-temp-sensor.html

http://forums.viperclub.org/rt-10-g...-temperature-gauge-pegged-out-while-cold.html

Might help.

 

[Martin]

http://forums.viperclub.org/rt-10-gts-discussions/620645-bad-temp-sensor.html

http://forums.viperclub.org/rt-10-g...-temperature-gauge-pegged-out-while-cold.html

Might help.

Good point - even if the sensor 'seems ok' it might make sense to replace it anyhow. It's only a $70 part, and only takes a few minutes to swap out, so that's where I'd start. If the sensor is brand new, next place to look is the Violet/Yellow wire from the sensor to the gauge. There are a couple of connectors between the sensor and the gauge, so maybe one of the contacts is bad. Or, maybe the wire is bad someplace.

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

I didn't read the referred-to posts, but there are three sensors; for gauge, for PCM, and for idiot light. In Gen 1 they are three separate sensors, in Gen 2 they are combined in a multi-wire unit. Are you looking at the gauge sending unit component? Just making sure.

 

[dave6666]

I didn't read the referred-to posts, but there are three sensors; for gauge, for PCM, and for idiot light. In Gen 1 they are three separate sensors, in Gen 2 they are combined in a multi-wire unit. Are you looking at the gauge sending unit component? Just making sure.

Aren't Chuck's cars all Gen 2's? Meaning he's looking at the single sending unit that has them all in one?

Just making sure.

 

[99 R/T 10]

Yes, Chucks cars are all Gen IIs.

 

[AZTVR]

Obviously, you could measure the sensor to see if it is bad; but, if it is intermittent you might not detect that. Another way to check to see if it is the sender would be to replace it with a 10 cent resistor from radio shack, if you have some jumper clips to connect it all up.

 

[mach4444]

had the exact same issue with my 2000 rt/10.
it was the sensor.
sensor checked good with meter but would fail when in service.
easy to remove/install.