Temperature gauge gone mad
Discussion
Morning,
I have one of the SPA digital oil pressure/water temperature gauges. This morning the temperature was reading fine (about 80c or so) when suddenly it started reading -58! I stopped, turned the car off and when I switched on again it was back to normal. After a few minutes it began to give strange negative readings again so I headed home.
As I drove the gauge would suddenly read OK for a bit, then go mad, then come back on OK.
Anyone had this sort of problem before? Sounds to me like a dodgy sensor. More importantly, if the temperature gauge on the dash is reading a crazy value, what will the fans do? Luckily, the only time the engine got hot enough on my journey it was all working fine so the fans came on as normal. If I have to drive the car to the garage for a fix I'd like to be able to do it without the engine blowing up!
Cheers
I have one of the SPA digital oil pressure/water temperature gauges. This morning the temperature was reading fine (about 80c or so) when suddenly it started reading -58! I stopped, turned the car off and when I switched on again it was back to normal. After a few minutes it began to give strange negative readings again so I headed home.
As I drove the gauge would suddenly read OK for a bit, then go mad, then come back on OK.
Anyone had this sort of problem before? Sounds to me like a dodgy sensor. More importantly, if the temperature gauge on the dash is reading a crazy value, what will the fans do? Luckily, the only time the engine got hot enough on my journey it was all working fine so the fans came on as normal. If I have to drive the car to the garage for a fix I'd like to be able to do it without the engine blowing up!
Cheers
If you d/c the sensor from the gauge thats about the reading you will get so it sounds like either the sensor is funked or you have a loose connection between the sensor and gauge..
The Fans will still cut in using the signal from the ECU which is taken off a separate sensor.. If this becomes d/c your fans will kick in as a fail-safe and I believe the MIL will illuminate at the same time..
The Fans will still cut in using the signal from the ECU which is taken off a separate sensor.. If this becomes d/c your fans will kick in as a fail-safe and I believe the MIL will illuminate at the same time..
Remove the F1 panel (the hardest part of the job) and following the radiator pipes..
Hopefully you can view these pics, often people have issues with my domain!
This is a pic of the connector you are looking for, remove it, give it a clean but be careful the pins are fragile.. You can just about see at the bottom of the pic there is a grey wire (labeled water sensor) -
It should be located just in front of the screen washer bottle, but watch out for the other coolant temp sensor that feeds into the ECU (If this is unplugged your fans will run continuously and MIL will light up)
it will be clearer when you have a look for your self compared to some dodgy phone pictures
Like I say, it took me nearly an hour getting the F1 panel on and off! the actual clean up of connectors was a 2minute job!
Hopefully you can view these pics, often people have issues with my domain!
This is a pic of the connector you are looking for, remove it, give it a clean but be careful the pins are fragile.. You can just about see at the bottom of the pic there is a grey wire (labeled water sensor) -
It should be located just in front of the screen washer bottle, but watch out for the other coolant temp sensor that feeds into the ECU (If this is unplugged your fans will run continuously and MIL will light up)
it will be clearer when you have a look for your self compared to some dodgy phone pictures
Like I say, it took me nearly an hour getting the F1 panel on and off! the actual clean up of connectors was a 2minute job! Edited by tejr on Wednesday 23 May 11:37
tejr said:
Remove the F1 panel (the hardest part of the job) and following the radiator pipes..
Hopefully you can view these pics, often people have issues with my domain!
This is a pic of the connector you are looking for, remove it, give it a clean but be careful the pins are fragile.. You can just about see at the bottom of the pic there is a grey wire (labeled water sensor) -
It should be located just in front of the screen washer bottle, but watch out for the other coolant temp sensor that feeds into the ECU (If this is unplugged your fans will run continuously and MIL will light up)
it will be clearer when you have a look for your self compared to some dodgy phone pictures Like I say, it took me nearly an hour getting the F1 panel on and off! the actual clean up of connectors was a 2minute job!
Many thanks - I can see your pics just fine. Whats the beef with the F1 panel then? I don't think I've ever been brave enough to tackle removing that!Hopefully you can view these pics, often people have issues with my domain!
This is a pic of the connector you are looking for, remove it, give it a clean but be careful the pins are fragile.. You can just about see at the bottom of the pic there is a grey wire (labeled water sensor) -
It should be located just in front of the screen washer bottle, but watch out for the other coolant temp sensor that feeds into the ECU (If this is unplugged your fans will run continuously and MIL will light up)
it will be clearer when you have a look for your self compared to some dodgy phone pictures
Like I say, it took me nearly an hour getting the F1 panel on and off! the actual clean up of connectors was a 2minute job! Edited by tejr on Wednesday 23 May 11:37
big_treacle said:
Whats the beef with the F1 panel then? I don't think I've ever been brave enough to tackle removing that!
It's a PITA, I really struggle with it, but I have made the job slightly less difficult by enlarging the cut-out for the back of the passenger side fan. I also considered removing the little section that goes under the rad top hose, but decided against it (it will probably break off one day anyway).When the car is cold the panel comes out a little easier as you can crush the radiator hose, when you test everything is fine ie. start the car and let it warm up, the hose pressurises and its hard/impossible to put the panel back in until the car is cold again!
I ended up trimming the part that tucks under the hose to make it fit back in a little easier..
I ended up trimming the part that tucks under the hose to make it fit back in a little easier..
Normally you need to just remove the Pipes linking the air box to the air intake at the front of the car. I have only 6 bolts holding the panel in - remove these and then the fun begins. As others have said, it can be difficult to extract and there is various angles and twists required to extract it - but not rocket science I promise.
Once in there, on the passenger side, you should find a "heater stack" as it was once described to me, which is a couple of large water pipes with sensors attached - should be pretty obvious..
Once in there, on the passenger side, you should find a "heater stack" as it was once described to me, which is a couple of large water pipes with sensors attached - should be pretty obvious..
big_treacle said:
Right, I just had a look at the F1 panel. It's fixed in with several bolts along the sides and a couple at the front. Presumably I need to remove the airboxes in order to get to a couple of the bolts on the side? Just thought I'd check before I go diving in.
Sounds like your 4.5LW being a late model Cerb has the higher level F1 panel, which I presume is much easier to remove. You may also find that you have much more clearance at the other end of the engine above the starter motor - which may come in handy one day 
ukkid35 said:
Sounds like your 4.5LW being a late model Cerb has the higher level F1 panel, which I presume is much easier to remove. You may also find that you have much more clearance at the other end of the engine above the starter motor - which may come in handy one day
I've already had the 'pleasure' of removing the starter! haha. OK thanks for advice, I have my spanners, I'm going in....
Tanguero said:
Is your gauge driven off the same sensor as the ECU? My next step would be to connect up the diagnostic software and see what temperature the ECU is seeing. If that is normal then I would suspect an issue with the gauge its self or its wiring.
I can't be sure. There are definitely 2 different sensors - the one with the round connector in the picture above & one with a rectangular connector which is connected to the ECU (I disconnected the rectangular one and the fans came on). When I disconnected the round one nothing happened. Either way, the gauge still showed -60.I don't have the software or lead but I think it could be a wise investment.
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