Chimaera Temp Gauge

[bucyrus]

For no reason the temp gauge on my 1998 400 has suddenly decided not to register ie not comming off the min. temp at all. Checked sender with meter thats ok. no live feed to sender have tried to follow wiring diagram from Heaths bible but a bit vague. Any ideas would be apprciated before I set on ripping the dash off. I feel it must be a live feed problem but fail to see where the problem might be

[s7paul]

Before ripping the dash out, are you sure you've checked the correct sender. I think there are 3, but only one feeds the gauge, and it's barely visible (let alone reachable) tucked down behind the distributor. If that's OK, try doing a search on "temperature gauge", you'll get loads of hits with useful info.

[peebee]

I had asimilar problem, but mine did move a little and I was told it was under-reading by 20 degrees. As mentioned by s7paul getting to the sender is a pain. I found it easier to get an 'adapter lead' from Mod-Wise and connect to the spare 'Land Rover' connector on the top of the engine. All of this is useless, of course, if as you say it is the guage or a connection to it!

[Rum Runner]

If you take the terminal of the sender( tricky but do-able with long nose pliers) the gauge should read 0 if you earth it the gauge should read max , so gauge o.k. The sender is goosed best thing to do then is call David at Mod-wise and get a conversion to use the land rover one already in the manifold and easy to get at, as the TVR one means taking things off. Davids comes with a resistor which is tune able for setting the gauge really accurately. You will also find that the gauge reads more true as the land rover sender is in the coolant flow . The first thing is you will find how quickly the car really warms up and the gauge does not tell lies relative to coolant temp in cold weather as does the TVR one. You can have this job sorted in about 3 mins with Davids kit .

[bucyrus]

Thanks all 3 of you. I am fairly sure i have the right sender just behined the distributor and under the hose to the swirl tank. Behined it and to the right is what looks like the original L/R sender. I am confused about the wiring going to the terminal that clips onto the sender I have green/blue and red/black Steve Heaths wiring diagram shows green/blue going from dashboard(gauge?) to sender should red/black be live feed? Which at the moment I am not getting and I presume I earth out green/blue to check gauge operation?

[PeeBee]

The sender to the guage is a single wire with a spade terminal at the end (it is tight behind the distributer). Wire is black IIRC.



Are you sure you're not looking at the temp. sender for the ECU - this has a multi-cable squarish connector and it is alongside the original LR sender (on mine this is a brass 'nipple'('scuse me!) with a green ring around it).

[PRTVR]

check out this post

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...



I posted some pictures of the temperature sender for the ECU, with the land rover

spare sender also showing.

may help clear up what you are looking at.





Phil

[Rum Runner]

The temp guage send is standard spade terminal deep in the valley behind the dizzy, 1 wire .ECU temp sender is square snap over metal banded multiplug orange/brown.

[bucyrus]

Blimey!! Thanks all, I am not looking at the right sender am I?! I will go and have another probe.

[bucyrus]

Found it I think!!! Its mounted horizontally deep down behined dizzy A real bummer to get to I will run ohms tests tomorrow and decide course of action, thans for all your hints and tips so far and great photos PRTVR

[PeeBee]

The adapter from Mod-Wise costs around £10 and for that money it's well worth just fitting it without worrying about the old sender and it does seem to give a more reactive guage reading (shows the engine warming up quicker than the original).

[Rum Runner]

A new TVR sender is about £17-£19, if you want a replacement for that I have one which I ordered then found out about the mod - wise kit, this was when i asked on hear can the TVR sender be done by just taking the top hose off. You can have it for £15 if you want it ( will check postage), but would recommend the mod - wise.

[bucyrus]

Thanks everyone for information and help Have now sorted the problem by using the old L/R sender as suggested and by experimenting with various resistors,fan cut in temp., digital temp gauge etc etc ended up with 148 ohms and everything looks rosy......until the next time.....! Many thanks again for all your help.

Peter. Windlesham, Surrey