So yesterday I blew a heater hose. Car got hot quickly, but no damage done. Replace the hose (sort of - couldn't find the right one, so we made one). Anyway, started the car up today, everything is fine, EXCEPT - the temperature gauge is stuck on H. By that I mean, it's pegged all the way to the right.

Help, please, or at least suggestions, on how to fix the problem? Don't wanna run the car as it is.

 

Thump it with your finger.

Seriously.

On my SE, the temp guage sticks at cold when it starts to get cold outside, and whenever I start it up, I have to wait a few minutes then thump the plastic cover with my finger and it immediately flips up to the correct reading. After that, it's 100% and never rises above 1/3 of the way.

I would hazard a guess that your engine got a lot hotter than you think if the gauge is stuck on the HOT setting. This means that something had to GET it there to begin with for it to be stuck. This also means that your engine temperature was likely maxed out prior to you shutting the engine off and fixing the problem.

Anytime a rotary is that hot, you risk internal engine damage in the form of water seals and oil seals that have been burned and will no longer keep the fluids where they're supposed to be. This will be evident in coolant 'disappearing' from your radiator and overflow tank, high temperatures when running, and white fog out of the tailpipe (this is your coolant making it past the water seals and into the combustion chambers). After awhile, the car will become hard to start and will require a lot of cranking to get it to run.

Rebuild ahead on the right. I hope this isn't your case and that you just shorted out the lead wire or something, but if it's stuck on HOT, you may have bigger problems with your car than the temp gauge not working correctly.

 

Sorry Lisa. Ive had 2 different cars do this in my years of having 1st gens. 83-85 with its crappy oil cooler that cooks the orings and leaks oil onto the heater hose eventually causing it to get spongy soft and burst. One car lasted 30,00 miles, the other lasted 1,000. Watch your coolant level, if you start using coolant, rebuild is in your near future.

 

lisa, if you turn the key on, does the gauge instantly to to hot? mine was doing this and it happened to be a shorted wire going to the water temp sender. after i replaced the wire, the temp instantly went to normal.

 

Let me try to answer all of the questions.

When it got hot, the temp got to about the thick line before the red zone, never actually hit the shaded area.

Thumping it with my finger does absolutely no good at all. And yes, when I turn the key (without starting the engine), the needle moves as far right as possible, WAY beyond the "H". There are no unusual sounds, smells, etc., nothing out of the ordinary as far as I can tell. Since I fixed it, I haven't burned any coolant, but I haven't driven very far - I don't like the idea of driving it if I can't tell if it's running too hot. Funny, the add coolant light never came on - what's up with that?

Is it possible that a sensor fried?

 

Yup good call, sounds like you cooked the sensor.

 

Yup good call, sounds like you cooked the sensor.