Is your water Gauge acting up?

Have you done so much to the car today that it just doesn't fit into one section, or are you too damn lazy to split it all up? Either way, this is the section for you.

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Briano1234
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Is your water Gauge acting up?

Post by Briano1234 »

Well after yesterday of ripping out my dash and adding a new ground to the Instrument cluster, removing the old guage faces and adding new ones reseating the Speedo needle to be more accurate, I was hoping that my wonky on again off again water temp gauge was fixed....

Well I took it out for a test drive and it started to move, yeeeeeehaaaaw for about another 30 seconds one pot hole and that was all she wrote the needle started to slowly work it's way downward.

So when I got home I quickly took out my vom and measured across the terminals on the temp sender. It was fine about 100 ohms. Cold it was infinate. If I put 12vdc to the gauge from inside of the car nada.... ohdam

Speed forward to today, after cataloging all the relays that I have gotten in the yard, I am only missing the one for the water level / flashing light from hell.

So hoping that it isn't the one I need, I pop the hood, and measure the wires from the sender, gnd is gnd, and the other is infinate. OH BOY I love trouble shooting a possible open....

Out comes the dash, again.... (bright side, I can get it out in 10 minutes...).

With the sending unit jumpered, I measure from pin2 gnd to pin4 on the cluster 0.05 ohms.... well good I was worried about the relay holding everything down as the wire from the engine compartment ties to the relay then heads north.

I reversed the leads and nada... good that rules out the relay, even thou it ain't a relay.

Out comes the cluster, inside the house dissasemble it (again)....

Take the gauge out, and try to jumper it to 9vdc, nada no deflection, zippo...hurrah I found that sometimes a gauge goes ca-ca-doo-doo.

Run to the yard, there are no gauges in any rabbit, then all buy itself sat a new jetta (new to the yard it was a 94). Its gauges were intact.... But wait, they were VDO and the coolant gauge wasn't in the 6:00 position, it was at like 8:30... Mine is Motometer...

Would it fit?

Getting the dash out, I got the cluster apart and the gauge was different. I guess as it was a corner case :) .

So pulling the needles off, and grabbing a few relays, I am headed home. total outlay 4 bucks.

I had to trim the gauge a wee bit with tin snips, but then I placed over my template, and it was half cocked... Okay I can live with that but will this one work? I tested it out with the 9vdc battery, and it deflected. WOWSERS I have a gauge.

I installed it, and from the time that I plugged in the cluster to the time I was finshed picking up the tools 24 minutes has transpired....

So feeling froggy I gave the Lean Green Shamrock Mochine a much needed bath, it was so happy, I couldn't hardly keep it in the tub.

I took it out for a test spin,,,, pretty soon the gauge started to move, I was very happy that my cluged gauge is working I ran over railroad tracks, gauge was still working. I parked for 15 minutes with the engine running the gauge was working. It registers slightly past the red dot from hell, but at least I have a gauge as to how hot the car is. The gauge had to be trimmed to fit, and the gauge face was slightly skewed but it is working. That is the last of my Dash duties for now, untill I assemble the parts for Cruise Control.....


So the moral of the story, Sometime a flakey gauge is the gauge........ :)



Next week Wheel bearings...........gonna do both, why not. then I don't have to worry about either one of them for a while.
Briano

Yes as matter of fact, I have the Luck o'the Irish...everything I touch turns to fertilizer of the bovine variety.
You can lead a user to a link, but you can't make him Click.... :screwy:
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kamzcab86
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Re: Is your water Gauge acting up?

Post by kamzcab86 »

Briano1234 wrote:So feeling froggy I gave the Lean Green Shamrock Mochine a much needed bath, it was so happy, I couldn't hardly keep it in the tub.
:lol: :mrgreen:
chloeroxymax
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Joined: Sun Oct 21, 2007 8:01 am
What year is your cabby?: 1990

Re: Is your water Gauge acting up?

Post by chloeroxymax »

I know I'm bugging the heck out of you guys, but you've been so helpful.

My gauge seems to be working, but I get the blinking light. The guy who sold me the car said it was because the resevoir cap was wrong and didn't hold the pressure... so I tracked down another one that would at least seal the thing, and then put near 3/4 gallon of coolant in the system.

Now the needle stays lower, but the light still blinks. Reading thru the service manual, my 1990 Cabby should have an electric fan, and it should run post shutoff to cool the engine. I've not noticed it running...

So here's the question: why does the light blink? I've got the service manual, but not the owners manual, and as far as I can tell, the service manual doesn't tell me what the blinking light means. Could it be caused by the fan failing to run? The Lower temp gauge never gets over 100C, and now that I've topped up the coolant, the gauge doesn't get much beyond 1/3. And given what you guys know, what's most likely to fail in the radiator fan system?
CalAltaDubber
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Re: Is your water Gauge acting up?

Post by CalAltaDubber »

chloeroxymax wrote:I know I'm bugging the heck out of you guys, but you've been so helpful.
Bugging us? No that's what we do here. The more questions the better!
chloeroxymax wrote:My gauge seems to be working, but I get the blinking light. The guy who sold me the car said it was because the resevoir cap was wrong and didn't hold the pressure... so I tracked down another one that would at least seal the thing, and then put near 3/4 gallon of coolant in the system.

Now the needle stays lower, but the light still blinks. Reading thru the service manual, my 1990 Cabby should have an electric fan, and it should run post shutoff to cool the engine. I've not noticed it running...

So here's the question: why does the light blink? I've got the service manual, but not the owners manual, and as far as I can tell, the service manual doesn't tell me what the blinking light means. Could it be caused by the fan failing to run? The Lower temp gauge never gets over 100C, and now that I've topped up the coolant, the gauge doesn't get much beyond 1/3. And given what you guys know, what's most likely to fail in the radiator fan system?
First off the cooling fan is a totally independent part of the cooling system.

Basically, it has a thermostatic switch that is mounted on the lower driver's side of the radiator. When the coolant temp in the rad is too hot the fan starts and draws air through the rad. Likewise when the coolant becomes cool enough the fan will shut down.

The temp gauge has a red LED that is supposed to flash whn the temp is way too high. But by your description, the gauge is reading normal. I am suspecting the gauge itself.

Does the light flash all the time? Or is it only during startup? Or does it flash at an intermittant rate.

On my car, I normally expect the needle to remain near the LED while I am driving in cool temps. on hot days (about 90 degres F) it runs higher and the fan will com on if the car is allowed to idle for a minute or so after driving.

The fan in my car rarly comes on on cool days (50 degrees F)

Hope I've given you some help there.
Phil

'87 Cabriolet, "Topless Bunny"
'88 Cabriolet, "Posh Bunny"
'04 Golf
'12 Golf Wagon TDI
'69 Manx type Dune Buggy (New Toy)

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chloeroxymax
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Re: Is your water Gauge acting up?

Post by chloeroxymax »

The light flashes at startup, just like I've read it should.

After a few seconds, it then begins flashing again. It stays flashing until I turn off the engine.

The needle on the gauge has never gotten much past halfway. The weather here has been in the mid 50s to mid 60s all weekend, so maybe the fan doesn't need to run. So maybe the sensor feeding into the light is causing the problem? What can I check for that?
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kamzcab86
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Re: Is your water Gauge acting up?

Post by kamzcab86 »

The later Cabs have a coolant level sensor on the coolant reservoir; this sensor also sets off the flashing light. If the temps all check out and the fan is operating as it should, check the level sensor. :beer:
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Briano1234
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Re: Is your water Gauge acting up?

Post by Briano1234 »

What I would suggest is that you do, for the flashing light from hell... Is start your engine..........
When the light is flashing pop the hood and look to see if the res is lower than the has marks... (probably is) As a engine applies power the water level in the jug can decrease (normal). Increasing the level of the fluid in the jug will probably resolve the issue.

Also I would remove the sensor in the middle of the jug and clean the hell out of it. They get corroded, and from age and calcium....

Lastly, is your radiator fluid full strength or is it the 50/50 blend. If the coolant is full strength then it won't have the proper resistance of the sensor that uses the resistance of the water to say the jug is empty.
Briano

Yes as matter of fact, I have the Luck o'the Irish...everything I touch turns to fertilizer of the bovine variety.
You can lead a user to a link, but you can't make him Click.... :screwy:
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