Outer Limits 4x4 Board

i know this has probly been asked a 1000 times and theres probly a 1000 thread but i dont have time to go looking, The temp guage on my 89 cruiser is about as usful as tits on a bull! i recently went to Moreton island and it was workin hard through the soft sand, the highest the guage went was 1/4 but when i got back to camp i let it idle for 3 mins (turbo timer) then opened the bonnet and it has been spitting water out the little tank beside the radiator, and there were coolant marks below the bottle so it got fairly hot. around town it never moves! this conerns me a friend has 2 60 series cruisers and both of there guages go to half way!

Would it be the Sender or the guage itself? any suggestions on how $$$$$ it would be to get it workin right?

Cheers Troy.

Hey Mate I had similar problems on my 62 series sahara. It turned out to be just the sender. It was a quick easy and cheap solution.

my 60 runs about half on the stock gauge....but I have installed an aftermarket gauge as well!

Around town it tends to sit on about 80-85 degrees.

Yea mate check the sender, they tend to crust up a bit or deteriorate on the older rigs, pretty cheap and easy to replace.

I also run an aftermarket guage to check eng temp as well

those with aftermarket guages on thier 60, where did you put the probe in?

I just removed my factory sender and put in my aftermarket one for the same reasons as vSAHARAx, it was dodgy!

I couldnt locate anywhere where i could put a second temp probe in easily, and i dont think the ones which fit in the radiator hose would be very accurate when the thermostat is closed(granted if the thermostat is closed heat isnt a problem yet).

i have a diesel btw

If you remove the wire off the sender unit and earth it out on the engine somewhere with the ignition on the gauge should climb all the way to the top reasonably quickly.
If it doesn't you have a gauge problem. if it does gauge should be ok. As for the sender you'll either need the specs and a multi meter or someway of reading the water temperature.
Local should be able to test these things for you fairly quickly and cheaply
Good luck

I've had a few different aftermarket temp sensors on my cars, and the best ones by far are electrical guages, not the ones with the probe. I have my standard guage running off the thermostat housing, and a secondary (aftermarket) one running of the glow plug water sensor in the head using another 2h cruiser temp sensor and (if your looking at your engine, its left side right up the front)

I put the aftermarket gauge in near the thermostat housing...hasnt caused any dramas so far!

where can i buy a new sender from in south side of brizzy and roughly how much?????

Sgesco VDO in archerfield. Forget the addres or phone number but its in the phone book. And yes that is how its spelt

Ok Getting quite p!$$ed off now.

Had Cluster (Temp Gauge) Tested by Sgesco, Cold = 226 Ohms, Hot = 26 Ohms so Gauge is OK

Checked Wiring, Seems OK

Bought Brand new Genuine Toyota water Temp sender that screws into the passenger side of the top thermostat housing

BUT YET TEMP GAUGE STILL ONLY GOES TO BOTTOM INCREMENT AT NORM RUNNING TEMP!!!!!!

PLEASE WHAT THE HELL COULD BE WRONG WITH IT!!!!!!!?????

WHERE DO OTHER PEOPLES GUAGES SIT AT NORM RUNNING TEMP!!!!!?????? In The Owners Manual normal running temp, the gauge should sit between the 2nd and 4th bar!!!

All of my cruisers have sat between 2nd and third bar... Maybe you have a really effective cooling system

Seriously hook up an electric aftermarket temp guage and have a look at what it reads, also is your cooling system clean, earth for guage panel ok, wiring terminals clean etc?

Have you replaced the thermostat? I'd try that first.

I retained my original temp gage and added the new one to the radiator hose. The Toyota gage does not seem to respond to temperature spikes that can occur with the turbo . Hope this helps.cheers

Thanx BigBrownDog thats a top idea!!! When i put the new sender in i put a heap of thread tape on it where as though the old sender didnt have any thread tape, the guage is a little more responsive it sits just above cold line (i took it on first long drive today) although it takes a while to get there. Should i take thread tape off?? would this make no difference? like do they earth through the block or what ever?

Cheers.

you shouldnt use thread tape as the sender relies on the thread for an earth

thread tape can fuck it up

Ok Taken Thread tape off Temp Sender, still nothing!!!! i can earth out the wire on the sender and the gauge goes to hot so no wiring or gauge probs. is it possible it could be the wrong sender?

YAY MY TEMP GAUGE WORKS!!!!!!!

Had the Gauge tested= its Okay
New Sender= (old sender was buggered) didnt make much of a difference
then i Finally changed the thermostat (old Thermostat was stuck open) = AND YAY NOW IT GOES JUST ABOVE THE 1/4 MARK AT RUNNING TEMP!!!!

The fella at toyota said not to position the little frame thing on the thermostat infront of the sender apparently it can give a false reading, dunno if this is true but it worked

Cheers for everything fellas shoulda done what "Sixty's Guy" said and changed thermostat first but at least i know everything has been replaced or checked now.

Troy