possessed temp gage

Gotta love that wiring . . .
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azruss
Posts: 3659
Joined: Sun May 30, 2010 12:24 pm
Your car is a: 80 Fiat 2000 FI

possessed temp gage

Postby azruss » Thu May 18, 2017 3:38 am

When i restored the car, I picked the best of 4 temp gages I had. Everything went fine until several months ago. It would read fine, then gradually increase, then drop down again. I just thought the stat was opening and beginning to stick. It would also jump 20 degrees when I turned the lights on....ground issue?
So lately, it would get to temp and stay there a while, then start to go up and would peg in less than 30 seconds. Increase was too fast for it to be a cooling issue. I stuck my finger under the dash and wiggled the gage wiring and it would immediately drop down to normal and start the whole process over again. Now when it dropped, it showed a lower temp than it every had before. 195 vs 185. So i replaced the gage with one of my spares. Now the temp sits at 185 and steady as a rock.

baltobernie
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Patron 2020
Posts: 3466
Joined: Sun Nov 25, 2007 6:00 pm
Your car is a: 1973 Spider [sold]
Location: Baltimore, MD

Re: possessed temp gage

Postby baltobernie » Thu May 18, 2017 10:03 pm

Those cheap infrared handhelds from Harbor Freight and others are a great sanity check. I carry one in my tool kit.

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nelsonj
Posts: 394
Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2010 5:37 pm
Your car is a: 1972 Spider 124

Re: possessed temp gage

Postby nelsonj » Fri May 26, 2017 10:36 pm

azruss wrote:Now the temp sits at 185 and steady as a rock.

You must have one of Mark's electric water pumps!!!

Snark.
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Simi Valley, California
Spider 1800
Romans 10:9

User avatar
azruss
Posts: 3659
Joined: Sun May 30, 2010 12:24 pm
Your car is a: 80 Fiat 2000 FI

Re: possessed temp gage

Postby azruss » Sat Jul 01, 2017 3:20 pm

Funny, Snark! When I built the car, the entire cooling system was refreshed with block, head, and heater cleaned. New radiator, water pump, stat, and hoses. I used a flat file to true the flange of the heater pipe. Drilled a bleed hole in the stat and added a fill port in the top heater hose. The result was factory fresh cooling system. It has surprised me how well in works in the Arizona blast furnace. If there is ever an issue it is in the balmy winters where the temps can get down to freezing. The car never really gets to temp and have even considered putting a piece of cardboard in front of the radiator on such occasions.


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