[DeTomaso] Techno question: dead temp gauge

[Paul Timko]

You can't use one car to test the other unless you connect the ground of 
both cars together (at the battery, engine or chassis).

I'm not exactly sure what was done during the two D cell battery test, 
but I believe that the +12V to the gauge is broken, missing blown fuse. 
  the +12V goes in one terminal on the gauge, the current travels 
through the gauge to the "sender" (not really a good name) in the block. 
  Think of the sender as a variable resistor that changes resistance as 
the temperature changes.  The resistance goes down as the temperature 
goes up, so the current goes up with the temperature, causing the gauge 
to read a higher value.

So check the positive connection to the gauge.

Paul
#9270

MikeLDrew at aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 8/12/07 13 33 34, cengles at cox.net writes:
> 
> 
> 
>>   It is obvious that I am not sure if my problem is the sender or the 
>>gauge at this point.  Sigh.
>>
> 
> 
> This will sound VERY silly.   But there is a semi-easy way to test such 
> things when you are as electrically-challenged as I am.
> 
> You have the benefit of TWO Panteras in your garage.   Presumably the other 
> car has a functioning temp gauge?
> 
> You can either swap senders (too much work), or get a long piece of wire, 
> temporarily hook one end to the sender wire on the 'bad' car, and the other end 
> to the temp sender on the 'good' car.   Then start the good car and let it warm 
> up.   Turn on the key in the bad car; if the gauge works, then the problem is 
> *definitely* a bad sender in the bad car.
> 
> I don't even know how the temp sender works.   I presume that 12V goes into 
> one side of the gauge, and the wire from the gauge to the sender is the ground 
> wire?   So the sender is some sort of ground rheostat?
> 
> Somebody whose initials are SOB please help me understand this! :>)
> 
> Mike 
> 
> 
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