Operating temp (Page 3/3) Rhodesia1977 AUG 04, 04:44 PM The gauge wire thing was the first issue I took care of when we got the car 2 years ago. The Ogre helped me out on that one! PITA!! But fixed. You have no idea how much your advice and advice from others here have helped me out! Thank you very much for your time. If you're ever in central Michigan I'll buy you a beer for the trouble! Thanks again. Rhodesia1977 AUG 04, 06:25 PM I think I have it figured out. The wires on the coolant gauge sensor are separate. The black plastic case that they were in was missing. So I thought maybe the 2 wires are backwards. I reversed their positions and now the high temp light doesn't come on dimly anymore. Also the gauge seems more accurate. Before the temperature at the t stat housing was 195 and my gauge read 185. Now my gauge reads 193ish which is almost identical to the temp on the t stat housing. I wonder if that was the problem all along. It's hard to believe that the fix was that simple! Thanks again for the tech assistance! greenturnedblue AUG 04, 06:59 PM Interesting. It seems like the wires were shorting causing the light to 'use up' some of the ground path, causing the light to come on very dim while simultaneously providing less ground potential to the gauge, making it read slightly less than actual. Glad you got it figured out and glad I could help! fierofool AUG 05, 11:25 PM The temperature gauge switch is actually 2 switches in one. One is a variable resistance that controls the gauge. The other terminal is simply an on/off switch that closes the circuit at a certain higher temperature and opens as the temperature drops below a given point. One half can work correctly and the other half be totally crapped. Rhodesia1977 AUG 06, 08:08 AM Yes. I learned this the hard way! I believe it's fixed, however. The person who owned her before me had the wires on backwards and it was hard to tell without testing because he used the same colour for both! I painted the other wire. I have a car show today and it will be 92 degrees with 80% humidity so I will see for sure if things are ok. Knock on wood. Thanks for your reply and have a great weekend. Hopefully you can do some Fieroing! fierofool AUG 06, 10:43 AM I would suggest that you purchase Rodney Dickman's low temp fan switch. The 210/200 switch has worked wonders for both my cars. My 86 has partially crushed coolant tubes and would overheat quickly in slow traffic or on a long mountain hill climb. Now, it can sit in 90* traffic with no problem. The switch kicks on the cooling fan long before it gets to the boiling point but it also turns off to keep the engine above it's required operating temperature. It's just an added safety for you. http://rodneydickman.com/pr...o.php?products_id=88