[89_tintop]

i am chasing some info on the 1989 sierra temp gauge

what resistance range do the gauges work in?
what temp sender are you using?

my problem is that my gauge only travels up to about 1/4 and that is where it stays.
things i have checked
- i checked the gauge has full movement and does go all the way to hot if bridges straight to earth
- resistance in wire between spade terminal in engine bay and back of dash and that is ok.

i am running a tridon temp gauge sender and am thinking that that is the problem. but i want to check my gauge properly and need to know the resistances that it works in

[jonno_racing]

i have the same issue mate!

mine go's half way up and thats where it stays.. when my last motor died it was boiling hard and guage said normal...

let me know how u fix it!

i have fitted a speco gauge!

[eldo]

my guage only reads 1/4 also when it is at full running temp, i have bridged it and the guage definately goes all the way

[lauby]

i've been looking at aftermarket options, there's a lot of jibber jabber once you start looking. Specometer and VDO are on the short list as accurate. Then i found this baby ENGINE Watchdog I found reports on other forums, all seem good. Any one know it ?

[Che]

Sheez that's a bit of a worry, i've never seen mine above 1/4 either. Does anyone have a gauge that works properly?

[shandy92]

che_guitarra wrote:

Sheez that's a bit of a worry, i've never seen mine above 1/4 either. Does anyone have a gauge that works properly?

yeah i do, but i have a vitara so more than likely going to be different. i had mine over heat and the gauge was right up to the red. now since all fixed/replaced mine sits about 1/4-1/3

Mitch

[BUZOOKA]

mine never goes up over about a quite acept for the time i blew my radiator hose and it went skyhigh

maybe ur temp piece that screwing to thermostat is cactus ??

[fordem]

Gauge senders & gauges need to be matched to one another.

I could be wrong but I think the temperature sender in the Sierra is the same one that's used in the Swift in which case you're looking at the following resistances in ohms.

50*C (122*F) 133.9~178.9
80*C (176*F) 47.5~56.8
100*C (212*F) 26.2~29.3

If you're interested in knowing how well the Swift temperature gauge works, I can provide that information also.

[boballan82]

Try the link below it gives the tech specs for the sierra, they are the same as Fordem has given

50*C (122*F) 133.9~178.9
80*C (176*F) 47.5~56.8
100*C (212*F) 26.2~29.3


http://www.4x4.in.th/manual_sj413/index.html

[zot_boy]

pretty standard suzuki thing mine reads 1/4 but when she boils it goes to just over half way haha

[SuziBlu]

Mine sits about half way when at operating temp, and wayyyy up there when playing, I would stop, get out, feel the radiator, quite able to hold it for 10 seconds, so, fuck the stupid gauge off and get a real one, one that tells you temperature, not 1/4 way or 1/2 way or whatever the hell that means.

[lukes_89]

gauges arnt to expensive im looking at getting a couple as my oil pressure switch doesn't work, so im looking at an oil pressure gauge a temperature gauge a fuel gauge for my duel tank then a battery gauge for duel battery's i may not get the bat one as i dont want it looking like some ricer lol

[ando_zook94]

Feeling the Radiator is great if the Thermostat is working, Zook guages I have seen have been pretty reliable and the only problem ahs been with the sender unit. Not much goes wrong with the Guage, but senders do stuff up thru constant cycling with temp.

[SuziBlu]

[Che]

Any way of checking the gauge / sender is working properly without trying to boil the radiator?

I've never seen my gauge rise above 1/3, no matter how nasty I am to the car

[fordem]

lukes_89 wrote:

gauges arnt to expensive im looking at getting a couple as my oil pressure switch doesn't work, so im looking at an oil pressure gauge a temperature gauge a fuel gauge for my duel tank then a battery gauge for duel battery's i may not get the bat one as i dont want it looking like some ricer lol

Replacing the oil pressure switch would probably be a bit less expensive than installing a gauge, and even if you do fit a gauge, I'd still recommend replacing the switch - a red light coming on is easier to see out of the corner of your eye, that a gauge needle winding slowly back down to zero.

Both of my Suzukis have oil pressure gauges and working oil pressure lights.

[lukes_89]

i have replaced the switch and it did not fix my problem which is why i figured im better off with a gauge then nothing at all

[LAY80N]

Feeling the radiator is rather useless, if your thermostat fails and jams closed your motor is going to overheat way before you notice the radiator getting hot. Also if you have no coolant arround the temp sender, then it will not register. The senders do not react to air temp, if your coolant level is below the sender you can overheat your motor without your temp gauge even moving. My temp gauge sits about 1/3 at NOT and only moves slightly depending on load and conditions.

I have compared my factory temp gauge with the readings on the laptop from my haltech and it reads quite accuratley. If your having troubles with it test the sender and the gauge. Bad earth problems will cause issues with the gauges, so check everything properly before just blaming the 'dodgy'zook gauges.

Oil pressure lights are good, but the factory ones dont come on till about 2psi. If you reach 2psi with any load on the motor, by the time you see that light and shut it down you will have issues. A light is good as is a gauge but you have to set it up properly.


Layto....

[fordem]

lukes_89 wrote:

i have replaced the switch and it did not fix my problem which is why i figured im better off with a gauge then nothing at all

The low oil pressure light circuit is dead simple - if you want help fixing it start a new thread (so we don't derail this one) and I'll give you a hand.

[Che]

I want to bump this to see if I can fix it.

Is there any way to tweak the temp gauge so that the reading is more 'credible'? I was sitting in non-moving traffic for a half hour two days ago in hot humid weather and it still didn't rise above 1/4, and my fan is on backwards!! If that's as hot as my engine will get I want the gauge to read closer to 75 - 100% - it's too hard to understand what's going temp wise on when the gauge is barely moving.

I'm guessing if I got to 3/4 or more my engine will be molten lava. Can it be tweaked to be a more accurate representation of whats going on?

[fordem]

As the first step I would suggest you get an IR gun and find out what temperature the engine is actually running at - is might be running colder than it should be - measure the temperature at the thermostat housing.

Do you have a thermostat in there, is the right thermostat, and is it working as it should?

Having the fan on backwards reduces the efficiency slightly, but I doubt that it would cause a problem with an engine at idle in stationary traffic - maybe climbing uphill in 4-LO.