Temp senders

"i have a 69' century chee

"i have a 69' century cheetah i have been working on in the garage for a while. a couple of weeks ago, i put new gauges in it and sold the old ones on e-bay for dirt cheap. found out later the were stewart warner gauges. anyway, when i took it out of the water for winter, the temp gauge worked just fine. now, the new gauge won't read anything over 100. i know it is getting hotter, because i can feel the block get warmer until the thermostat opens, and then the block cools down. i am at a loss. do senders go bad?"

"Yes andrew senders can go bad

"Yes andrew senders can go bad, You should be able to groud the wire coming from the gauge and it should read very hot when touched to ground. if that works then your sender is bad."

"Andrew,
What brand of gauge

"Andrew,
What brand of gauge did you install?
Even though there is a standard US ohm scale, temp senders and gauges work best if they are from the same manufacturer. This is from SW's site:

"Water Temp System:

This is the most difficult system to match. Most temp gauges are designed to work with one particular sender. Each sender has an electrical element with its' own characteristics. It is very difficult to find another manufacturer whose gauge dial angles will match the senders resistance/temperature curve.

When trying to match temp gauges and senders of different manufacturers, the most critical point on the gauge is the thermostat temperance. If this combination produces a reading that is with-in 5º F of the thermostat temperature, and it stabilizes there, then this combination can be used until you can purchase the gauge and sender combination that was designed to work together."


If you installed a foreign gauge, the impedence or resistance may be different. On the other hand, your sender may be bad or it may not be grounded properly. The temp gauge is really a voltage meter. The hotter the sender gets, the less resistance it creates so the higher the voltage potential so the higher the needle goes on the scale. Try grounding the brass base of the sender. If that changes the gauge the sender is not properly grounded. Try grounding the wire. It should peg the gauge needle."

"i have no idea what brand the

"i have no idea what brand the senders are. the original gauges were steward warrner, and i installed faria bajas."