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sephiroth
03-13-2007, 01:24 PM
just installed my autometer ultra-lite tempreature gauge and under normal driving conditions the gauge almost maxes out, the needle goes to about the point where the screw head is on the 250F side if anyone else knows what gauge I'm talking about. The dummy gauge in my car's never gone above the middle mark and I'm fairly sure the autometer gauge works, since if I let the car cool off it will gradually go to the off-scale temp it's at right now. Thought it might be a bad temp sensor so I took it back and got a new one, the new one's still doing the same thing, so I suppose my question is; does the car really run 280F? I have the 1.8L engine, it's got 84K on the odo and as far as I know, it's never had a radiator flush. I'm about to go do that next to see if it helps at all.
Kansei
03-13-2007, 01:38 PM
I highly, highly doubt it runs that hot. I got the pontiac G5 rental up to 222F today and it set off a "overheating" chime on the car's computer (I did this by keeping the car in 1st gear and driving at redline for about 20 minutes).
sephiroth
03-13-2007, 01:39 PM
I highly, highly doubt it runs that hot. I got the pontiac G5 rental up to 222F today and it set off a "overheating" chime on the car's computer (I did this by keeping the car in 1st gear and driving at redline for about 20 minutes).
that's what I'm thinking, and that's why I thought it was a bad temp sensor, but it's doing this with the new one, so.. (dunno)
03promaz
03-13-2007, 01:40 PM
I highly, highly doubt it runs that hot. I got the pontiac G5 rental up to 222F today and it set off a "overheating" chime on the car's computer (I did this by keeping the car in 1st gear and driving at redline for about 20 minutes).

Ahh gotta love beating on the rental
Kansei
03-13-2007, 01:42 PM
that's what I'm thinking, and that's why I thought it was a bad temp sensor, but it's doing this with the new one, so.. (dunno)

bad gauge? does it sit at 0 or whatever the bottom is when the car is off?

Trust me, when the G5 got to 222F it was making some really funky smells from under the hood :P
sephiroth
03-13-2007, 01:46 PM
bad gauge? does it sit at 0 or whatever the bottom is when the car is off?

Trust me, when the G5 got to 222F it was making some really funky smells from under the hood :P
yeah, when I turn it off it'll sit at the bottom. It shoots right back to 280ish when I turn it on though. It'll go down (at least the last one did) if I let the car cool off for a while.
Kansei
03-13-2007, 01:53 PM
What about if you let the car sit overnight and start it .. it should definitely take a couple minutes to get back up to 280 if it was really getting that hot.
sephiroth
03-13-2007, 01:55 PM
What about if you let the car sit overnight and start it .. it should definitely take a couple minutes to get back up to 280 if it was really getting that hot.
the gauge reaches about 280 before the dummy one does.. but I guess it should do that.
It's been cooling down for about an hour now, and it's sitting @ 250F. Alot of coolant leaked out when I was putting the T fitting in, I filled the res back up with coolant/water and by the time I got to autozone to grab something the res was basicly empty, I filled it back up with more water and the res has been full ever since, but I'm going to go do the flush and see if it helps any.
P-Funk!
03-14-2007, 12:22 PM
It sounds like a bad ground. Starting at the battery - check the body ground and engine grounds. Check the gauge grounds (resistance? any? to ground).
mazpro
03-14-2007, 01:31 PM
My prosport one stays around 200-220 usual driving. when I do some "spirited" driving, it goes up to 240-250 and the car overheats @ around 250.

My stock gauge does not work, broken needle. I used to have overheating problems so I think that's why mine goes so high.
sephiroth
03-16-2007, 04:01 PM
It sounds like a bad ground. Starting at the battery - check the body ground and engine grounds. Check the gauge grounds (resistance? any? to ground).
I'm fairly sure the ground is just set-up on a bolt somewhere and not grounded to the car's stock grounding system, I'll hook it up to there and see if that changes things.

My prosport one stays around 200-220 usual driving. when I do some "spirited" driving, it goes up to 240-250 and the car overheats @ around 250.

My stock gauge does not work, broken needle. I used to have overheating problems so I think that's why mine goes so high.
couple questions just so I have a reference, do you have the 1.6 or 1.8 and is your car a MTX or ATX? thanks.
mazpro
03-16-2007, 04:21 PM
I have a 1.6L MTX
thewrench
03-16-2007, 05:53 PM
How do you have the sender installed? You say it's in a t-fitting, is that t-eed into a metal hardpipe, or spliced into a rubber hose? The sender must be grounded also.
sephiroth
03-18-2007, 04:36 PM
it was a grounding issue, after relocating the ground from a ground on the fuse box to one near the battery, my temps reach a steady 150F, and my radio dosen't remain on after I turned the car off (that shoulda been and idiot inidicator right there..)
thanks pfunk!
The sender must be grounded also.
sender dosen't have to be grounded, the only ground needed is the one off the gauge.
mazdaprotegeSP
03-22-2007, 06:25 PM
Iam having the same problem with my 2000 mazda protege 1.6l. Its over heating and it alomosts gos up to the H lol. I do run it pretty hard tho.