how to install a water temp gauge?
11 Second Club
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 169
Likes: 4
From: Millersville, Maryland
Originally Posted by LS69TA
Yea, the facory gauge is a joke.
I didn't realize how bad until I put in a new gauge about a month ago. I posted the following in another thread back on July 7th:
Originally Posted by Mr Ed
... the factory water temperature gauge is a totally worthless piece of crap. I had heard this before but never realized how bad it is until I installed a digital gauge last week. Until last fall, I always ran as cold as possible but switched to running at full temperature after I replaced my valve springs because CompCam’s instructions had very emphatic warnings not to exceed 4,000 rpm’s until after the car has been warmed up.
My prior observation had been that the stock gauge gradually rises from cold until it reaches operating temperature at which was point it settles in pointing very steadily slightly left of straight up. I figured that was about 180°. WRONG!!! What I now know is that it reaches straight up at about 160°. After that, it doesn’t matter what the real temperature is. The needle will continue to sit in the same spot for anything up to 245°. As an addicted bracket racer I was really pissed. My car had been very consistent until this year and now I know why my times have recently been all over the place. We're talking about an 85° spread!!!
My prior observation had been that the stock gauge gradually rises from cold until it reaches operating temperature at which was point it settles in pointing very steadily slightly left of straight up. I figured that was about 180°. WRONG!!! What I now know is that it reaches straight up at about 160°. After that, it doesn’t matter what the real temperature is. The needle will continue to sit in the same spot for anything up to 245°. As an addicted bracket racer I was really pissed. My car had been very consistent until this year and now I know why my times have recently been all over the place. We're talking about an 85° spread!!!
