Temperature reading on 88sport with buttstuffog guage January 17, 2014, 05:51:44 PM i am placing this in engine tech because i feel this may not be electrical.here is the deal............-we ground the single wire on the temperature sender-with koeo, the needle climbs up to 100% max within about 5 to 7 secondsWhen the car is driven, it stays astronomically cool reading,, normally it stays wayyy down near the "C" for cool.A few months ago we had forgotten we changed the sender.yesterday we put in a new sender again,, both of them on the work bench reading cool both ohm out to about 450ohms.My son just drove back to charolttsville va and he reported back that at highway speed, the temp needle only once made it to the middle range of "NORM", but when the tstat opened up it fell quickly down to the middle of the letter "C".so what is the probable fault here,,,,,,,,,,,, is it possible its a rash of bad senders?Its possible i have a tad high resistance on the single wire leading to the sender but doing the grounding out test yeilded a quick enough result from the guage.ideas? Quote Selected
Temperature reading on 88sport with buttstuffog guage Reply #1 – January 17, 2014, 05:55:18 PM i told my son the only thing i can think of is either the wire has a high resitance or there is a water flow problem in the forward tunnel of the lower intake.... such has head gasket blockage. Quote Selected
Temperature reading on 88sport with buttstuffog guage Reply #2 – January 17, 2014, 06:13:29 PM I went through three from Autozone before I got a good one. Looking for a Ford piece now. I also have a 180 degree thermostat in my car, so it takes a while to warm up. Quote Selected
Temperature reading on 88sport with buttstuffog guage Reply #3 – January 17, 2014, 07:33:54 PM Quote from: vinnietbird;427462I went through three from Autozone before I got a good one. Looking for a Ford piece now. I also have a 180 degree thermostat in my car, so it takes a while to warm up.Say whaa??? Temp of stat will make no difference in how quickly the engine warms, should reach 180* at same time it would with a 195... Yes you'll get more heat with the higher stat, which is why everything I own has a 195...Scott have you checked gauge calibration??? Because procedure is in the shop manual I won't go into detail but it involves checking low & high gauge reading with a 10 & 73 ohm resistor connected instead of the sender... (good luck on that 73, a 50 & 25 in series should be close enough)...While I dunno for sure, I doubt grounding the connector and letting the gauge sweep to max is beneficial to it's calibration... Sudden current drawn through the bi-metal could damage it... Quote Selected
Temperature reading on 88sport with buttstuffog guage Reply #4 – January 17, 2014, 07:39:52 PM I figured out my gauge which I thought was the sender or irv. it was the ignition switch. one day I hit my turn signals and nothing. started wiggling the ignition switch wires, and now everything works as if new. Quote Selected
Temperature reading on 88sport with buttstuffog guage Reply #5 – January 18, 2014, 12:54:33 AM Quote from: TurboCoupe50;427467Say whaa??? Temp of stat will make no difference in how quickly the engine warms, should reach 180* at same time it would with a 195... Yes you'll get more heat with the higher stat, which is why everything I own has a 195...Scott have you checked gauge calibration??? Because procedure is in the shop manual I won't go into detail but it involves checking low & high gauge reading with a 10 & 73 ohm resistor connected instead of the sender... (good luck on that 73, a 50 & 25 in series should be close enough)...While I dunno for sure, I doubt grounding the connector and letting the gauge sweep to max is beneficial to it's calibration... Sudden current drawn through the bi-metal could damage it...perfect,, i can inline a pot on the lead and dial all that in. too bad mason rolled out today,, lucky for me....... he can understand this test and do it himself and ill let you all know. Quote Selected
Temperature reading on 88sport with buttstuffog guage Reply #6 – January 18, 2014, 07:34:35 AM Make sure you use a suitable pot - I don't know how much current the gauge draws, but since it's a heated bimetallic strip it's probably more than the 1/8 or 1/4 watt most pots are good for...Also, I know this sounds basic, but is the thermostat good? If it's stuck open or has a small leak (bypass) in it, or if it's an aftermarket low temp unit like Vinnie's you'll get a low temp reading... Quote Selected
Temperature reading on 88sport with buttstuffog guage Reply #7 – January 18, 2014, 08:38:41 AM Quote from: Thunder Chicken;427499Make sure you use a suitable pot - I don't know how much current the gauge draws, but since it's a heated bimetallic strip it's probably more than the 1/8 or 1/4 watt most pots are good for...Very true, likely ought to have a wire wound of 2W or more... Basically that's why I suggested resistors, easy to locate and unlike a higher current pot are cheap...I have a few WW pots but I think all are less than 50 ohm, I'll look...BTW I have a couple friends who bought new '88 Sports, both complained almost from day one the gauges were erratic & I saw the same with most of the Turbo Coupes I owned(been discussed on NATO many times)... Usually there are connection issues on the rear of cluster or the voltage regulator is bad/intermittent(but it effects all gauges)... I gave up on the ones in my TC years ago and installed aftermarket...BTW #2 A resistance sub box is a nice piece to have, we used then regularly with tube electronics, Heathkit and others offered them with double switches and could sub from 15 ohm to 10 meg ohm...Radio Shack sells a six position switch that could mounted into a box with 5W resistors for automotive usage... The Heathkit mentioned used one watt resistors... Quote Selected
Temperature reading on 88sport with buttstuffog guage Reply #8 – January 18, 2014, 04:40:36 PM A cheap alternative to a high wattage pot is a fuel sending unit board, if you can find one. I've got a few GM ones kicking around, great for diagnosing fuel gauge issues but would also work with any other gauge with a similar resistance range Quote Selected
Temperature reading on 88sport with buttstuffog guage Reply #9 – January 19, 2014, 10:04:00 AM in the navy we used those,,We called them "DECADE" boxes.when we component level troubelshot the issue, we could dial in pretty much any capacitance or resistance we wanted then gator clip that value into the circuit board.We to have had irratic gagues till i found the tiny gray resistance wire on the ignition switch was hangin on by a smidge of copper.i cut it back just barely, soldered and reinstalled on teh ign sw.i thought all that irratic gauge issue was over.speaking to cluster connectors........ we to noticed the oem metalic clip /pop in clips on the connector shifted forward and aft,,, and a few even refused to stay locked in.we "thought" we secured all those using our smarts to secure all the wiring into the connector then laying the hot glue gun to the back side of the connector.perhaps it is a cluster issue,, but it doesnt make sense that he needle pegged up quickly enought when i grounded the wire... that told me the data is making it to the guage.gotta wait till he comes back to dig in further. Quote Selected
Temperature reading on 88sport with buttstuffog guage Reply #10 – January 19, 2014, 10:07:14 AM by the way,, we abaondoned the "amps" guage ,, it did not work when we got it.i gutted the amps guage, installed the guts from a tractor supply VOLTS guage,,, gave it key on power from the ign sw and a ground.now the guage tells us more than it ever has..... we did this a couple years ago. Quote Selected
Temperature reading on 88sport with buttstuffog guage Reply #11 – January 19, 2014, 07:20:52 PM If memory serves me the gauge does not draw any substantial current. So i think the wattage is a moot point. just make sure the voltage regulator is in speck and ford says never ground the control leads to full sweep the gauges. If memory serves you need to be somewhere around 10 OHMS full and around 75 empty. Quote Selected
Temperature reading on 88sport with buttstuffog guage Reply #12 – January 19, 2014, 07:50:56 PM Quote from: jcassity;427574by the way,, we abaondoned the "amps" guage ,, it did not work when we got it.i gutted the amps guage, installed the guts from a tractor supply VOLTS guage,,, gave it key on power from the ign sw and a ground.now the guage tells us more than it ever has..... we did this a couple years ago.I've never seen but one ammeter that did function, that one I took apart and recharged the "C" magnet around the element... Within a couple weeks it was back to it's lame ole self, apparently issues with the ammeter is the gauge it's self... Quote Selected
Temperature reading on 88sport with buttstuffog guage Reply #13 – January 20, 2014, 09:09:10 AM here is that project with pictures of how we converted the ammeter,, it still appears to display amps with its oem housing/cover but its actually reading volts.Convert your not so accurate amp meter to a volt meter easilyhttp://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showthread.php?34359-Ammeter-conversion-to-Voltmeter-R-amp-R-guts&daysprune=100Cool down that big resistor on the back of your buttstuffog instrument cluster.This also applies to those with digital clusters except the resistor is smaller.http://www.foxtbirdcougarforums.com/showthread.php?34327-buttstuffog-cluster-*solve-that-heat-problem*-on-the-big-3-long-reisistor&daysprune=100 Quote Selected
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