sometimes (rarely) my temp gauge seems to be reading correctly, but most of the time its just hanging out near the 100* mark, when i shut off the car, the needle goes over to the left farther than i think they normaly do
is there a sencor or somthing that needs to be replaced? just curious

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Rich AIM: OneFast 2M8
* '86se:,350 bored .030 over,World Products s/r Torquers-ported, Manley valves, Weiand X-CELerator, edelbrock 750cfm.carb hypereutectic pistons, 1.5 rollers,lumpy cam, sanderson cc90's,2-1/4" exhaust4:10 tranny, Spec stage 3copper puck clutch, adj.Koni's, Eibach's,polly, tons more...
*'86 se V6
*'92 BMW 325i

If it's intermittant I would first check for a bad or loose connection at the guage as well as the sender unit. It's also possible that the guage itself is bad, which I'm understand is somewhat common and replacements can be found at the FS.

On mine, it was corrosion on the plug which goes into the guage cluster. Take the back off the pod and check the plug. While you're in there, bend the plastic fingers up a bit for better contact. (Careful. The PC traces can come loose from the plastic.) After you clean off the plug, get a 55 ohm one watt resistor. (Radio Shack, if you don't have one.) Pull the plug off the temp sensor (Rear head left side) and ground both leads to the front. One will light the idiot light and the other will peg the temp guage. Put the 55 ohm resistor to ground on the one which pegs the guage, and the guage should read 260 degrees.