Heat gauge.... Am I missing something?

[Damkid]

Ok so I've finally been working at getting my heat gauge working with my KL and at first I wired up the KL sensor direct to my cluster by running my own wire to keep it hidden to go with my wire tuck and that didn't work

So I assumed it may have been a difference in the KL sensor to my gtx gauges so I knowing that my heat gauge worked with my B6T using a stock festiva sensor, I figured get a stock festiva sensor, put it on my KL and it should work

Well no go, the festiva sensor was a direct swap though, so I figured maybe my wiring was wrong (even though I did a continuity test to check it) so I ran the stock Festiva temp gauge wire and ran it to the sensor, and it still won't work

So I'm getting a bit stumped on how to get it to work, how does the heat gauge work? Could I possibly be missing a ground somewhere? Does the heat gauge even need a ground since it's a single wire gauge?

I'm just looking for ideas to try and get my gauge to work so any tips are greatly appreciated

[JoDan]

I'm pretty sure the sensor grounds itself out and the temp gauge is just a ohmmeter and the sensor just has different resistances at different temperatures. I would ground the temp wire out and see what the gauge does, it should either read fully cold or fully hot if I'm thinking right. I would wait to see if someone else chimes in so if I'm wrong I don't want you messing something up

[Damkid]

I got a spare cluster to try your idea with, it's got a partially bad circuit board but the heat gauge still worked, so I could swap clusters and ground out the wire and see what happens lol and hopefully it goes fully hot since it's always at fully cold lol

[hofficergrover]

JoDan is right on how it works.
Did you put any thread tape on the sensor? If so it not grounding because it grounds to the head.

[JoDan]

I got a spare cluster to try your idea with, it's got a partially bad circuit board but the heat gauge still worked, so I could swap clusters and ground out the wire and see what happens lol and hopefully it goes fully hot since it's always at fully cold lol

My idea was more directed to whether the gauge on the gtx cluster was working or not

[Damkid]

JoDan is right on how it works.
Did you put any thread tape on the sensor? If so it not grounding because it grounds to the head.

I didn't use any any tape on it so it should be grouding out just fine lol

My idea was more directed to whether the gauge on the gtx cluster was working or not

The gauge worked with my B6T and just hasn't been hooked up since then, so it should still be a working gauge

[JoDan]

Well if you got power to the sensor then I would try a different sensor if you have one laying around and see what you get.

[Damkid]

Once I get home from work today I'll measure the resistance of the sensor itself while the engine is warm and again once it cools off, that way I can determine if it's the sensor itself and I've just got two bad ones (I do have a second KL one though as back up)

[wybnrml]

Your needle may be "stuck" and thats why its not functioning. I just went through this. I flicked my cluster with my finger a few times while I had the sending wire disconnected and grounded. Every time I flicked it, it would move alittle, then before I knew it, it was making a full sweep. I think what happened to mine was over the winter the car never got to operating temp and the needle stayed down all winter, so the needle became "stuck". I assume yours hasn't been working in awhile also, so its probably just stuck. It may not be your problem, but something to look for.

[Damkid]

^^Thanks for the tip, i'll look into that too lol

[Christ]

A straight ground should read cold, applying resistance to the circuit will increase the reading on the gauge. Pinch a few different resistors online with the gauge wire, then ground it. Each resistor should show a different temp reading.

[Damkid]

Christ - you got me thinking on the right track, but you are opposite, I got a lower resistance reading when the engine was up to temp, by grounding the wire it should shoot the gauge to hot, I tried that and it didn't work, I changed clusters and WOOT heat gauge now works

Now everything works the way it should with V6 swap, now it's just maintaining and upgrading :evil4:

Thanks for all the responses guys :thumbright:

[WmWatt]

Try spraying everything with WD-40 since duct tape doesn't seem applicable here.

[Damkid]

Try spraying everything with WD-40 since duct tape doesn't seem applicable here.

?? Huh? I just posted that the gauge was bad and I changed it and now it works, so I don't get what your suggesting

[Christ]

Damkid - I thought I had the right one, but obviously not. Maybe I was thinking of fuel level senders?