Temp gage up high but not overheated

[sarahandthebear]

Eavening all we have a 1984 1.9 petrol dg westfalia with the early cooling system we Just got our van back from the garage we have had a new water pump thermostat and collent pipes done on the van. Just before this our water pump broke and we overheated. The guy at the garage fixed it all up but one problem seems to have occurred and has stumped us all. Our temp gauge now sits just under the top way past the warning light but we never overheat. The guy at the garage a proper vw garage said he took the van for a 30 mile trip to try and see what was happening and even used a thermometer to see how hot the coolent was and it was normal. The fans work but don't kick in when it reads near the top we took it out on a 50 mile round trip today and nothing no overheating just the gauge sitting near the top. Anybody have any ideas or had this before as it's absolutely baffling us thanks

[jrt]

Quite a few threads on here a about where your needle sits, everyones is different. Ours sits just before the light and the first stage fan kicks in just as the needle rises past it. You can test your rad fan by pulling off the connector on the front of the radiator and bridging the connections with a paper clip to trigger the speed(s). Or give it a run and park up with engine running and sit and wait for the fan to come on. Did the mechanic change the thermostat?
When you say the needle sits near the top, do you mean just before the light? Sounds quite normal.
David

[sarahandthebear]

Hi David yes we bought a new thermostat from brickworks and he fitted it the needle sits way past the red light up to the top it used to sit just on the light but after he has changed the waterpump and thermostat it now sits well over but never overheats he warmed it up enough for the fans to kick in and they worked but when we drove it yeasterday it sat at the top no fans came on and no light so we're a little baffled. Were thinking electrical maybe a connector behind the needle maybe

[Mocki]

did you also change the sender???
its not unknown for the early sender to read false high after a overheat,
get the actual temp checked ( infra red thermometer at the water pipes to and from rad)
and if its correct , change the sender....

i recently did a early waterpump on one of our fleet and while it was to bits i cleaned the sender prong and it now reads a little high, but temp is actually a little less

[sarahandthebear]

Hi mokie I don't believe he did change the sender so that sounds like it's the problem he changed the thermostat he also measured the heat with a thermometer and it was not overheating. We used it again all day today some thing reading high but no overheating

[sarahandthebear]

Hey guys sender was changed any ideas on what it is

[oilrag]

Hello ,a bad earth to temp sender= high reading on gauge,voltage regulator fault ( behind dash clock assembly) will give incorrect reading too.
HTH

[AngeloEvs]

I would measure the new senders resistance with engine cold and after the engine has been run with gauge sitting at full deflection. Normal running temperature the resistance should be around 100 ohms and high temperature that triggers coolant warning LED is around 50 ohms. Either the sender is at fault, the incorrect one or the coolant is too hot.

Given that the gauge is reading higher than previously it would be odd for a sudden wiring fault occurred.

[sarahandthebear]

Thanks for all the help guys the garage did say it may be something to do with a connection behind the dash. It used to read just over the light but now it's right up just a few inches away from the top level. We have been driving her normally and she heats up at the same speed and drives excellent better then before it's just the reading is so high. I'll have a look next week see if any of the advice finds the fault at the moment though she drives perfect

[Da dan]

Could it also be a air lock in the rad? If not bled properly


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[sarahandthebear]

Could be d dan but our macanic bob from volxhuast kenilworth said he bled it well but it was a struggle to bleed I think I'm more worried about the engine I know it's not overheating but is it ok to run with it reading so high the fans work but don't come on when it reads that high it's as if it's at normal temperature but the needle sits to high

[Ian Hulley]

Where did the 'new' sender come from ? GSF ones are notoriously inaccurate .. This is partly why we buy our own spare parts and do most of the work ourselves.

Ian

[sarahandthebear]

We got it from brickworks but unfortunately could not do the work ourselves as we had our car written off and needed to get the van back on the road asap we had the coolent pipes and fuel tank changed at the same time

[jrt]

Could be d dan but our macanic bob from volxhuast kenilworth said he bled it well but it was a struggle to bleed I think I'm more worried about the engine I know it's not overheating but is it ok to run with it reading so high the fans work but don't come on when it reads that high it's as if it's at normal temperature but the needle sits to high

I'd ask him why it was a struggle to bleed? http://www.brick-yard.co.uk/forum/bleed ... 8d.html%7C" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
David

[Ian Hulley]

I'd ask him why it was a struggle to bleed? http://www.brick-yard.co.uk/forum/bleed ... 8d.html%7C" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
David

Exactly as David says ... they are not difficult to work on an or to bleed up.

Ian