I installed my cooler and temp gauge this weekend, but I'm not getting a reading on the gauge. I checked all the lines and they seen fine and are hooked up where they should...the light works, the needle flickers when the car is turned on so the ground and power work at least. The way I mounted the sender has me concerned though...I cobbled it together with stuff I found at Lowes and the parts that came with the cooler...the sender isn't mounted directly in the stream of fluid, its mounted maybe 2 inches away inside adapters, etc. Theres room for fluid to get around the sender though...does it have to be mounted directly in the stream or would the filling of the cavity it's in be enough? Sure doesn't seem like it...

 

did the car get up to operating temperature? what is the lowest number on your gauge ?

 

it sure should have gotten up to operating temperature, drove it up to work today (45 minute drive) and still nothing. minimum temp is 100* on my gauge

 

I had the same problem....you have to ground the gauge itself and put a ground from the sending unit itself to bare metal in the direct vicinity of the sending unit. I used a worm clamp to secure the ground wire to the brass T-fitting the sending unit screws into and then grounded it about 1 foot away below my radiator. This took me a few days to figure out but it works great now. Basically, you have to have two grounds...one for the gauge, one for the sending unit.

Here's a pic....it isn't recent enough to show the ground on the sending unit, but just run a wire so it comes into contact with the brass t-fitting and make sure it grounds as close as possible to the sending unit.

 

great I'll try that..thanks!!