[DeTomaso] Water temp gauge question

[Mike Drew]

Steven,

My initial guess is that you accidentally bought a 351C temp sender for a LIGHT which is an on/off switch rather than a variable switch, like you need. 

Please tell me you are not trying to fit the temp sender to the water tank?  That was a very bad idea De Tomaso had. All other 351C-powered Ford cars had the temp sender mounted in the front of the block, right next to the water pump, and below the thermostat housing opening. Pantera engines have a plug there. You should remove the plug and install a known good sender there, then install the plug in the tank where the sender used to be. 

After all, you care about the temperature of the water in the engine, not the tank. My very first (of many) Pantera failures was down to the stock design. I had a water hose come adrift and started leaking water. The temp gauge initially went up, but then the gauge started coming down (because it was no longer submerged in water). I thought the problem had fixed itself until the car erupted in a cloud of steam. I was very lucky I didn’t totally grenade the engine. 

Since you are horsing around with the system anyway, now is the time to fix it. 

Cheers!

Mike

Sent from my iPad

> On Mar 18, 2020, at 13:47, Steven Edwards1969Dart <gsedwards at cox.net> wrote:
> 
>    The water temp gauge was not working in the 72 that I am working on. It
>   was stuck on 90 and would not move.
> 
> 
>   I bought a new 90-260 water temp gauge and a sending unit that would
>   work with the gauge. I installed both, sending unit in tank.
> 
> 
>   When you run the key the gauge now maxes out to the right 60 degrees.
> 
>   So I check the system;
> 
>   Gauge is grounded
> 
>   Gauge has 12 vdc to it
> 
>   The red w/blk wire has continuity for the gauge to the sending unit
> 
>   Tank to body has continuity
> 
>   Bung to body has continuity
> 
>   Bung to base of sending unit has continuity
> 
>   Base to stud does not have continuity, which it shouldn't have until it
>   warms up to operating temp.
> 
>   I check the sending unit wire to body, no continuity, so wire is not
>   grounded to body anywhere.
> 
>   When I touch the wire to body the gauge moves to max
> 
>   Then I put the wire on the sending unit and it maxes out, engine is off
>   and cold.
> 
> 
>   I am in need of guidance to what is going on here. I am at a lose as to
>   what is happening.
> 
> 
>   Steven Edwards
> _______________________________________________
> 
> 
> Detomaso Email List is not managed by POCA
> Posted emails must not exceed 1.5 Megabytes
> DeTomaso mailing list
> DeTomaso at server.detomasolist.com
> http://server.detomasolist.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso
> 
> To manage your subscription (change email address, unsubscribe, etc.) use the links above.
> 
> Members who post to this list grant license to the list to forward any message posted here to all past, current, or future members of the list. They also grant the list owner permission to maintain an archive or approve the archiving of list messages.