about 3-4 months ago i put a new sender unit for the temperature gauge in my V6. It worked fine, now it seems to work but it barely registers on the needle, after driving for a good half hour its still barely in the blue. Is there an obvious reason / maintenance thing i can do to fix this ? I realise the radiator fluid has to be high in order to register on the sender but i changed the fluid on the weekend. Is there a possibliilty of an air pocket forming near the sender unit ?

Paul

i doubt it as the air would register higher than water with the steam etc.

There must be a thermostat installed and its probably worthwhile to check if it got stuck in the open position.

Every capri I've ever had sits in the blue or just outside of it. As Jon said check you have a thermostat fitted, the Essex seems to need one or else the water cavitates

Paul the wifes V6 sits in the blue whilst driving & in traffic just on the upper edge of the blue but it really does not move a whole lot at all.

Kev.

mine sits a above the blue about 1/4 of the range (except when stuck in freeway traffic - then its a race to the red )

I was cruising down the freeway yesterday and too my alarm noticed my temp gauge was now sitting on maximum (fully in the red) I pulled over straight away and checked the fan belt hadnt snapped, everything seemed in order. When I got home and let the car cool down i noticed I had lost about 2 liters of water somehow, i'm presuming its the split seal on the radiator cap (although I cant understand why 2 lts would get out there). After filling the car with fluid again I noticed the temp gauge still went to the max even when the car was cold, suggesting the sender unit had been damaged. Has anyone had this happen before, that the sender unit is damaged under extreme heat ? seems a bit weird as i thought it was just filled with alcohol and as it got hotter the resistance of the earth changed !

seems my Temp guage has a mind of its own lately [8~2]

Paul

Seems really odd Paul but I would be replacing the temp sender just to be sure & I would also be checking out the thermostat, do you have a spare temp guage ?? if not let me know I have a spare you can try.

Kev.

Disconnect the sender. If the gauge still goes to max then the gauge is faulty or the wire from sender to gauge is short circuited to earth.

yep done all that, thanks - its definietely the sender, will go and buy another one.....its only a few months old tho, I thought they were pretty much bullet proof ! :-(

Paul