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Temp gauge voltage problem

Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 9:36 am
by ownatigerwishidkeptalpine
My temp gauge is reading higher than true temp. Garage say it has 7.1v going in to it instead of 4.4v.

Any ideas how to correct or do you know of a company that can advise the correct resistor to reduce the voltage or can correct it for me?

Cheers

Posted: Wed May 28, 2008 11:33 am
by odl21
check that your voltage regulator is properly grounded under the dash. this is supposed to reduce the voltage going to the gauges to about 10V. its a mechanical device (works by heating a strip which then bends and breaks the circuit, then cools and bends back at high frequency) and they do fail.

i have a replacement solid state device made out of regular electronics by some tiger guy in the US.

i can recommend using mechanical water temp and oil pressure gauges which are a lot more reliable and add to your confidence a lot. in my case its only the fuel gauge which needs the regulator and that thing is far from accurate and responsive at the best of times :)

there is at least one article covering this on the tigersunited website:

www [dot] tigersunited [dot] com/techtips/cb-reg/reg.asp

Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 1:23 pm
by V Mad
It is difficult to measure the voltage output of the stock regulator because the meter reading will jump around, and will not read the correct average voltage of 10 volts. You could try testing your gauge accuracy in a pot of boiling water.

Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 7:45 pm
by ownatigerwishidkeptalpine
Hi - I haven't got a voltage regulator as I'm running an alternator.

Have had thermal imaging type thermometer pointed at rad when reading red hot but rad is actually cool.

How do I go about trying gauge out in boiling water?