Date:         Sun, 3 May 2015 17:21:45 -0500
Reply-To:     Jeff Palmer <jpalmer@MYMTS.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Jeff Palmer <jpalmer@MYMTS.NET>
Subject:      Re: Wonky temp gauge
Comments: To: David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
In-Reply-To:  <vanagon%2015050223475830@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Latest update:  wiggling the foil/wire harness behind the tach results in the red glowing light to begin flashing.  Not sure if it would stay on or off if I held onto it long enough.

Is there nothing common that would cause both to malfunction at the same time?

Thanks
Jeff 

> On May 2, 2015, at 10:47 PM, David Beierl <dbeierl@attglobal.net> wrote:
> 
> At 10:32 PM 5/2/2015, Jeff Palmer wrote:
>> Sounds like i now have a spare temp gauge to add to my collection :)
>> 
>> Light doesn’t flash at all.  Just glows faintly.  Temp needle pegs ‘immediately’ which means starts rising immediately but takes 2-3 seconds to reach the top.
> 
> That's about as fast as that needle can move.  The bimetal element is bending as the heater heats it up.  Unplug your level controller (on the side wall above the star grounds in a 1.9l) and test.  If the gauge still pegs, unplug the gauge sender back at the engine.  If it still pegs, unplug the panel connector and look for the gauge sender line being shorted to ground.
> 
> The gauge itself is just a heating element connected between the 10V+ screw and the sender screw.  There is no normal failure that would result in it pegging by itself, it needs to have something loading down the sender connection.
> 
> The blinker circuit is entirely independent of the gauge; it takes power from +10V and the skinny ground pin, and has a sense connection to the sender pin.  When voltage at the sender pin gets low enough it starts to flash.
> 
> If it does not flash for 2-3 seconds when you turn the key on, either bad power, bad ground, or bad blinker circuit, there are no other possibilities.
> 
> Yrs,
> d
> 
> 
>> Last year before gauge replacement the temp needle pegged the same and the light flashed continuously.  The foil connection is getting kinda grungy.
>> 
>> So power supply or ground issue it sounds like?
>> 
>> Thanks
>> Jeff
>