(ELECTRICAL) Question about Temp Sensor and Dummy Lights on an '84 GS
05-01-05, 02:59 PM
#1
(ELECTRICAL) Question about Temp Sensor and Dummy Lights on an '84 GS
Hey Guys,
Well, some of you know that I finally got my restoration project ("Roxy") finished this spring. Two weeks ago she passed her safety check and got new plates and had been running like a champ since then. I've put 1,500km on it in two weeks, and burned enough fuel to kill a small forest.
Then, two nights ago I was driving in the local Gatineau Hills when ALL of my dummy lights came on. I pulled over and turned the car off. I poped the hood and inspected what I saw. No overheating, no fire, nothing looking out of place. The car would still start and idle without any real problem. I left it to cool for a few hours and went to the lookout to hangout with some friends. When I came back the car still started and ran, but the dummy lights stayed on and I noticed my temp guage was showing a constant ZERO (or coldest, or whatever you call it). I drove it home very lightly, and also noticed my battery voltage metre was reading on the low side too, but didn't change through the 20km trip home.
I'm suspecting the water temp sensor has gone on me, but I wanted to see if you guys had any suggestions or input. I know when I left to go for the drive I was a *little* low on coolant, but nothing critical. Before I left the car sit for two hours I topped up the coolant, then did so again when I came back with the engine idling until the thermostat opened so that I could get any air bubbles out. I tried removing and re-installing all my fuses to no avail.
I don't know if this has any bearing but that morning I had removed the oscillator. Why, you might ask? Well ever since I started the restoration project, there has been a buzzer that has been going off on a regular basis. If it was dry outside, I could drive the car 10 mins and the buzzer would stop. But if I let the car sit a few days or if it was raining out, the buzzer would be on constant. It wasn't the shift buzzer (I hit that one while the other buzzer was going and heard the difference). It's not the door dingy-thing, and it's not the "hey doofus, you forgot your lights on" buzzer either. I think it's either the coolant or exh. overheat buzzer.
I took the oscillator out because with or without the buzzer going, the dummy light for the coolant level still worked when it was supposed to. When I took the oscillator out, I found that one of the prongs had corroded right off, and figured that was the source of my buzzer problem. Now I suspect it might have been a bad temp sensor.
Does any of this sound right to you guys?
The temp sensor is under the beehive right? How do I remove the beehive? Are they easy to replace? Would the local part store have them?
Any other ideas?
Jon
Well, some of you know that I finally got my restoration project ("Roxy") finished this spring. Two weeks ago she passed her safety check and got new plates and had been running like a champ since then. I've put 1,500km on it in two weeks, and burned enough fuel to kill a small forest.
Then, two nights ago I was driving in the local Gatineau Hills when ALL of my dummy lights came on. I pulled over and turned the car off. I poped the hood and inspected what I saw. No overheating, no fire, nothing looking out of place. The car would still start and idle without any real problem. I left it to cool for a few hours and went to the lookout to hangout with some friends. When I came back the car still started and ran, but the dummy lights stayed on and I noticed my temp guage was showing a constant ZERO (or coldest, or whatever you call it). I drove it home very lightly, and also noticed my battery voltage metre was reading on the low side too, but didn't change through the 20km trip home.
I'm suspecting the water temp sensor has gone on me, but I wanted to see if you guys had any suggestions or input. I know when I left to go for the drive I was a *little* low on coolant, but nothing critical. Before I left the car sit for two hours I topped up the coolant, then did so again when I came back with the engine idling until the thermostat opened so that I could get any air bubbles out. I tried removing and re-installing all my fuses to no avail.
I don't know if this has any bearing but that morning I had removed the oscillator. Why, you might ask? Well ever since I started the restoration project, there has been a buzzer that has been going off on a regular basis. If it was dry outside, I could drive the car 10 mins and the buzzer would stop. But if I let the car sit a few days or if it was raining out, the buzzer would be on constant. It wasn't the shift buzzer (I hit that one while the other buzzer was going and heard the difference). It's not the door dingy-thing, and it's not the "hey doofus, you forgot your lights on" buzzer either. I think it's either the coolant or exh. overheat buzzer.
I took the oscillator out because with or without the buzzer going, the dummy light for the coolant level still worked when it was supposed to. When I took the oscillator out, I found that one of the prongs had corroded right off, and figured that was the source of my buzzer problem. Now I suspect it might have been a bad temp sensor.
Does any of this sound right to you guys?
The temp sensor is under the beehive right? How do I remove the beehive? Are they easy to replace? Would the local part store have them?
Any other ideas?
Jon
05-01-05, 04:17 PM
#2
Lives on the Forum
I don't see any mention of the alternator belt. It's still there, right? That was my first thought. After that, I would suspect a dead alternator or that you might have lost your grounding.
A dead sensor (as far as I know) will not effect all of the dummy lights like you are describing. Removal of the oscillator should not be a problem either (I removed mine too).
In fact, the only thing that I can think of that would cause all of your symptoms is an electrical failure (alternator, belt, grounding, battery cables). It will probably be something really simple and cheap to fix. Good luck man!
A dead sensor (as far as I know) will not effect all of the dummy lights like you are describing. Removal of the oscillator should not be a problem either (I removed mine too).
In fact, the only thing that I can think of that would cause all of your symptoms is an electrical failure (alternator, belt, grounding, battery cables). It will probably be something really simple and cheap to fix. Good luck man!
05-01-05, 05:02 PM
#3
Airflow is my life
Check the "engine" fuse. My DD for some reason likes to let it fall out every couple of months. When it falls out, all the idiot lights come on, most of the gauges go dead and the buzzer goes crazy.
05-06-05, 01:16 PM
#6
I found the reason!
After the initial "break down" that night, I babied the car all the way home, parked her and haven't been driving her the past week.
Today I came home for lunch, and on my way out something told me "Go pop the hood on the Rex and have a look. Maybe in the daylight you'll see something you missed by flashlight"
And sure enough, bright as day I saw a broken belt sitting on the engine under-cover pan!
My brand new (less than 2,000km) alternator belt had snapped clean through. I'm still trying to figure out what caused this failure, but it's probably just a defective belt from the factory.
Nevertheless, I'm going to get that FD Alternator upgrade that was posted by Silverrotor in the Canadian forum
It's a good excuse to do that now.
So the symptoms of:
1. Losing your Temp Gauge
2. Having Your Dummy/Idiot Lights all come on
3. Having a low voltage reading
Are caused by no alternator charge.
Amazingly, I managed to drive the car about 25km on just the remaining battery power alone. It still has enough charge to start and run, even without the alt belt!
Thankfully, I still have an air pump on there, so my water pump was being driven the whole time and I didn't overheat. Man, I never thought I'd be seriously thankful for that stupid smogging machine. The new alt will be dual-belt, so hopefully this won't happen again!
Jon
After the initial "break down" that night, I babied the car all the way home, parked her and haven't been driving her the past week.
Today I came home for lunch, and on my way out something told me "Go pop the hood on the Rex and have a look. Maybe in the daylight you'll see something you missed by flashlight"
And sure enough, bright as day I saw a broken belt sitting on the engine under-cover pan!
My brand new (less than 2,000km) alternator belt had snapped clean through. I'm still trying to figure out what caused this failure, but it's probably just a defective belt from the factory.
Nevertheless, I'm going to get that FD Alternator upgrade that was posted by Silverrotor in the Canadian forum
It's a good excuse to do that now.So the symptoms of:
1. Losing your Temp Gauge
2. Having Your Dummy/Idiot Lights all come on
3. Having a low voltage reading
Are caused by no alternator charge.
Amazingly, I managed to drive the car about 25km on just the remaining battery power alone. It still has enough charge to start and run, even without the alt belt!
Thankfully, I still have an air pump on there, so my water pump was being driven the whole time and I didn't overheat. Man, I never thought I'd be seriously thankful for that stupid smogging machine. The new alt will be dual-belt, so hopefully this won't happen again!
Jon
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