Temp gauge

[logan]

The temp gauge doesn't work on the car, it has a aftermarket one on the dash and the probe is under the hood. Is there a port on these cars to put this? I have looked with no luck. OR could the temp dash gauge be a easy fix?

[Pu241]

On an EFI festy, the temp probe for the instrument cluster is a single wire (black wire, I beleive) with a bullet connector, which corrodes/breaks easily.
It is located near the spark plug closest to the distributor (driverside). guage is usually good, but connection or sensor is likely bad.
Someone can probablu get you a pick if you need it.

[logan]

I found it and used electrical cleaner to clean it and put dielectric grease in it that might fix it, I'll post and let y'all know

[logan]

Still nothing.

[Pu241]

I believe if you ground out the connector it should peg the gauge.
If not, then the wire has a break in it or the gauge is bad.
If it does peg you need a new sensor.

[Zanzer]

It could be either the gauge, the sensor, or possibly the wiring between the two. To check the gauge, with the key on ground out the wire of the sensor connector and see if the needle on the gauge pegs out. You can insert a jumper into the connector and ground it against the head or some other bare metal surface under the hood. If you want to be really sure, use a long jumper and connect it to the negative battery post. If the needle pegs then your gauge is good and it could possibly be the sensor or the wiring. To check the wiring; take a multimeter, set if for Ohms, and connect a probe at each end of the circuit (the sensor end and the gauge end) to check for continuity. If you get a resistance value you're wiring is good, if you get "OL" on a digital meter or no needle movement on an analog meter then there's a short somewhere. This is kind of tough since one connector is under the hood and the other is inside the car. You could skip straight to the temp sensor, I've replaced a few so they are prone to failure. It's around $14 at the McParts stores and should look like this:




EDIT: John beat me to it

[logan]

Ok, so I took a test light I grounded it and touched inside the connector. The fan comes on when unplugged and the test light comes on when you ground it out but no gauge peg.

[Zanzer]

If the fan comes on that's wrong connector. Sounds like you are unplugging the fan switch in the thermostat housing. Look a couple of inches to the left for the sensor that's screwed into the cylinder head. That should be the sensor for the gauge. Also, use a solid piece of wire to test it and not a test light. We're looking to make a good ground not for positive voltage.

[logan]

If the fan comes on that's wrong connector. Sounds like you are unplugging the fan switch in the thermostat housing. Look a couple of inches to the left for the sensor that's screwed into the cylinder head. That should be the sensor for the gauge. Also, use a solid piece of wire to test it and not a test light. We're looking to make a good ground not for positive voltage.

Ok, it was just the only piece of wire I had handy while out in town talking.

[Zanzer]

No biggy. In theory it should work but we're looking for the best ground possible and with a test light it would have to run through the tiny filament in the bulb. Not the best scenario for creating a solid ground circuit

[logan]

No biggy. In theory it should work but we're looking for the best ground possible and with a test light it would have to run through the tiny filament in the bulb. Not the best scenario for creating a solid ground circuit

Ill check it tomorrow and post results.

[logan]

I stuck a wire into what I think the the right sensor, gauge sensor has a round connector right? And the gauge did not peg or move. I don't really want a pod gauge but if all else fails with fixing the dash gauge, can I unscrew the gauge sensor and use that port for the pod gauge? I know on my truck the sensor gives readings to the gauge and the ECU.

Sorry new the the Festiva.

[Zanzer]

If the fan didn't come on and you didn't hear the fan relay click then you should have the correct sensor. Yes, it should be the one with the round bullet connector. I believe it's a yellow wire on my car but yours maybe different depending on year. If you grounded it with the switch on and the gauge didn't move it sounds like either a problem with the gauge or the wiring. Next step would be to check the circuit for continuity and verify the wiring is good.

If it's the gauge you may be able to change out that gauge in the cluster. I'm not really sure as it has been a long time since I have been into one of the clusters so someone else may be able to chime in here and correct me on this. Worse case if you don't want to run an external gauge and you don't have a tach cluster, you could probably purchase a non-tach cluster from another forum member. I'm sure there should be a few around since everyone likes to swap to the tach cluster. Or, this could be a good opportunity for you to swap to a tach cluster if your car doesn't currently have one installed


And no worries, we were all new to the Festiva at some point :thumbup:

[Banana Bonanza]

You can use an aftermarket mechanical temp gauge if you splice an appropriate size port into upper radiator hose. You can buy such made of aluminum on ebay. Make sure it has a hole size appropriate for the sensor of your particular gauge. Most of these gauges are made for old American applications and you need adapter if you have metric hole available.

Now if you get aftermarket electric temp gauge, you might be able to use the OEM Festiva sensor. But luck of draw if they work together properly. You obviously have problem either with dash gauge itself or more likely the wire going between gauge and sensor. I hate taking apart dash on "modern" cars with printed circuit boards enough that I would rather just use independent aftermarket gauge/sensor kit.

[logan]

If the fan didn't come on and you didn't hear the fan relay click then you should have the correct sensor. Yes, it should be the one with the round bullet connector. I believe it's a yellow wire on my car but yours maybe different depending on year. If you grounded it with the switch on and the gauge didn't move it sounds like either a problem with the gauge or the wiring. Next step would be to check the circuit for continuity and verify the wiring is good.

If it's the gauge you may be able to change out that gauge in the cluster. I'm not really sure as it has been a long time since I have been into one of the clusters so someone else may be able to chime in here and correct me on this. Worse case if you don't want to run an external gauge and you don't have a tach cluster, you could probably purchase a non-tach cluster from another forum member. I'm sure there should be a few around since everyone likes to swap to the tach cluster. Or, this could be a good opportunity for you to swap to a tach cluster if your car doesn't currently have one installed


And no worries, we were all new to the Festiva at some point :thumbup:

Is there a easy way to check the wiring you would I need to pull the dash and check ohms through the wire? I really don't wanna pull the dash because its not that big of a deal as the aftermarket gauge is already mount just gotta get the probe in somewhere. And I have a tach cluster.