cfl3794

Same with the Haynes it took me a while to find a good diagram

burnthelight88

Found it finally...Covered in oil and it appears that the wire is basically gone. No boot on the wire and it looks completely frayed so I'm going to trace it back and replace it and the sender too. Thanks guys.

mangi_goroka

So one of the posts said...ground the wire and the gauge should swing right(hot). well it didnt, so got a new cluster and swaped out temp gauges, same thing. it does the opposite, when open and Koeo it swings right, but grounded it swings hard left. so i thought the sender must be stuck grounded...nope no continuity between the stud and ground. there is between the shell(outside) of the unit but not the stud.
so the gauge when hooked up to the sender acts like its grounded(swinging left) but the sender acts acts like it has an open circuit!!!!! Goodness what is the prob! i tested continuity from the wire connector at the sender all the way to the gauge contact marked (sig) on the cluster circuit board and got solid continuity!! so no bad wires or connections! the sender i replaced 2 years ago because i thought it was the problem, since that change out..the gauge read cool when at normal operating temp.
1992 f150, 4.9L 6 cyl, 2WD
Any ideas?

Just call me Sean

iTrader: (1)

My gauge sometimes doesn't even go into the normal scale, just before where normal starts. I know the gauge is working correctly because when the truck gets too hot it will show me.

00gstang

aftermarket guages = looks better and works better

MadCleveland

Hope you guys are still around.

Replaced the temp sensor as gauge was not working. Grounded lead to test line. When grounded gauge needles goes to the far right of the dial (ignition on). However, when the lead is connected to the sensor, the needles moves to the left, below "C" (ignition on).

Any ideas on the problem? Thanks.

burnthelight88

Needle sweep when grounded means that the physical gauge itself is functional and the wire is good to go. If the gauge never moves even after warmup then your SENDER is bad, not necessarily the SENSOR. It's 2 different parts.

MadCleveland

Are you referring to the sensor with NPT thread located on the right side of the engine just ahead of and above the starter?

If so, that has been replaced.

burnthelight88

Well I think you should be ready to rock then. Have you actually warmed the truck up and the gauge still doesn't move?

MadCleveland

That is correct. When the ignition is turned to the on position, the temp needle moves to the left. When the engine is started and warmed, the gauge doesn't register any change. The needle remains to the far right of the gauge.