The coolant temp gauge has been working beautifully for quite some time now. 2 Days ago, the coolant temp gauge started to fluctuate up and down very fast and erratically. Then, it just totally died. A few minutes later, it started to fluctuate up and down, doing the same thing, then died.

I checked electrical connection at the coolant temp sensor and as well, checked the electrical lines and they are okay. I'm assuming that I have a bad coolant temp gauge.

Has anyone ever run into this problem? Could it be some bad soldering inside the gauge cluster?

 

Who makes the gauge & sender and what gauge wire did you run to the sender?

 

It's the OEM gauge/sender

 

I would verify the sensor is working (or not working) first.

 

This is weird. When I'm in gear and decelerating, the needle drops down to C. When I'm cruising at a constant speed, the needle fluctuates wildly from C to whatever the coolant temperature is. When I accelerate, the needle goes up to whatever the coolant temperature is and stays there.

I don't understand why the needle is dependent on acceleration/vacuum??

 

Sounds like there might be a break in the wire. So when you accelerate, it might put force on the wire such that the continuity is fine, however deceleration may disconnect that continuity.

 

buy an aftermarket water temp gauge and unplug the stock one....its COMPLETELY useless....its pretty much a Good or Fucked reading...might as well be 2 LEDS rather than a needle...