sendust

Lately my 67 Satellite 383 has been registering hot on the stock meter. I do not believe it is actually overheating , i replaced the stock rad with a 3 core about a year ago, flushed the system and reinstalled all season antifreeze. The car has been running great and still is but showing hot, just to be sure i replaced my thermostat with a stock 180f to assure this was not sticking. When reading hot I mean the neadle is in the top zone of the scale, it is still possible to touch the rad , upper rad hose and heater hose without burning skin, it is hot but i would expect if this gauge was correct this would not be possible. Also after turning off the engine it does not blow steam. I am in the process of getting another temperature sending unit to see if this is the problem but was wondering if anyone knows where i could purchase a c-3826 meter or if there is another way to test the heat gauge without removing it from the dash. Any thoughts appreciated. pete

440roadrunner

I'm pretty sure the fuel and temp gauges respond the same, IE you should be able to interchange them.

I would suspect either a bad sender or bad voltage limiter.

You should be able to check the gauge using the high/ low values for a gas sender, IE 10 ohms full (corresponding to high temp)

L = 73.7 Ohms (empty)
M = 23.0 Ohms (1/2)
H = 10.2 Ohms (full)

Find some big wirewound (power resistors) either through someplace like Digikey or Mouser Electronics, or even try Radio Shack. Don't forget you can series resistors more resistance (just add them) or the easy way to CUT resistance is to parallel two same resistances, IE 2 20's in parallel are 10 ohms.

sendust

Thanks i will give that a try. pete