The temp gauge is dead 98% of the time, all the way down below the first markings of temperature. Every once in awhile I will notice the gauge is working briefly and seems to be perfectly accurate during those brief moments.

I replace the temp coolant sender to the gauge (replaced the other one too that communicates with the ECU). Now what?

Thanks
Arne

Oh yeah, 1993 volvo 240 wagon

 

Your thermostat works fine? The engine gets warm like it should? You get hot air from the blower fan? Then the fault is with the temp gauge. Very common problem. You take it out and solder the points,dots behind.

 

And where it connects to the circuit board with screws.

 

Or - go to a junk yard and pull another one from there. That way you have a spare cluster to mess with. Be careful though - if you get a cluster from a pre 1990 model, your cruise wont work and SRS will throw an error (since those cars didnt come with airbags or cruise). My suggestion - if your junkyard only has a pre-1990 models, get the cluster, but swap out useful parts from it into your original cluster (speedo will have about 4 mph error if you ever swap it). Rest of the stuff is the same. That way none of the sensors get upset.


How did I find out: I went to town trying to figure out why the SRS light came on and my cruise didnt work. I had the exact same problem. Did it on my '91 244

 

yeah, and ABS speedos are different than non-ABS speedos, by a LOT.

 

Thanks guys,

Yes to the above questions, all engine functions are perfect now, it's just the gauge itself I guess.

I have a 1991 I bought for spare parts so I could salvage from that.

Arne

 

as sicnarf said above, resoldering the instrument panel connections associated with the temp gauge will almost certainly fix it. while in there, I'd rub some DeOxIT D100 onto the connector pins and the screw-connections.