e30 temp gauge on full even when cold

[brad91 0]

Hey guys.

When i got my car my temp guage and tacho didnt work. Replaced cluster and tacho works however now the temp guage is on full hot right from when you start the car.

I need to move the car (about 4km's) tonight and my car trailer is still pulled apart. How can i tell if the car is getting hot or not? Ive never really driven the car before to find out if it gets hot or not and dont want to do any damage.

It has the light check board and overheat light near the rear vision mirror. Will this be on a seperate circuit as it doesnt light up when the temp gauge goes hot.

Also any idea on how i can fix it?

Thanks

Brad

[pureboiracer 0]

the circuit for the guage is either open circuited or short circuited. ( i cant remember which makes it go hot.)

I would swap your old cluster back if you still have it and see if the guage works then, if it does the guage is at fault, if not then the problem is in the wiring or the sensor.

if your car is 6 cyl (320 323 325i)

the sensor will be in the thermostat housing at the top, front of motor where all the hoses go to. unplug the sensor and bridge the terminals and see if that makes the guage move, if the guage doesnt move theres a fault in the wiring for it.

Edited April 15, 2011 by -Oli-

[brad91 0]

Probably going to be easier and more accurate (for motorsport applicatons) to run an aftermarket water temp guage then?

The old cluser would sit on dead cold all the time. It was a good 6 months ago now but for memory i replaced the SI board and unbolted all my origional gauges (so i could keep the 160000km's) and screwed them into the new gauge surround/glass with the new SI board

[pureboiracer 0]

yeah if its going to be on the track i would just replace it with an aftermarket guage.