The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Hey guys, i'm at my wits end rught now on my toledo, the fuel gauge works fine, but the temp gauge reads maximum as soon as ignition is on, i've replaced the voltage regulator, the sensor (3 times) and still nothing! Diconnect the wire from the sensor and it reads nothing, i've checked for shorts on the wire and can't find any! Have I just been super unlucky and had 3 dead sensors? Bought from fleabay and rimmers...

Any help much appreciated!

Sounds like a grounded wire to me. Take the dash facia off and check the wiring in the back of the guage, it may be pinched or worn through in there

Tony

Just did that about 20 minutes ago actually, couldn't see any bad wires and everything was all inplace as it should be

temp and fuel gauges are more or less identical gauges, so swap the wiring over and see how that works. You will at least know if it is a duff gauge or the wiring.

I'll give that a shot tomorrow

Edit: had some time before work, just swapped the wires around, same thing, except fuel hit the max and temp worked as the fuel should.... i'm still none the wiser

I'm thinking if there is a short in the wiring then surely it would read max temp even with the sensor disconnected?

Did you get all three sensors from the same place ?

Does the gauge go up to max as soon as the ign key is turned to number two or does
the engine have to be on ?

I bought my temperature sender from Robsport via their ebay listing. As Tony has said it is going straight to earth which is why the gauge goes all the way to maximum. You've eliminated a problem with the gauge by swapping over the temp and fuel wires. Try running a temporary bypass wire from the sender to the gauge. If the gauge works as it should then there is a wiring problem. The wire from the gauge to the sender is a Green/Blue wire.

From your description and the checks you have carried out, there IS only one possible conclusion and that is that all 3 senders you have fitted are duff.
QUOTE, the guage goes to max as soon as the ignition is switched on but goes to zero if the wire is removed from the sender. UNQUOTE

It's all in that sentence and brooks no argument. the only place the problem CAN lie is in the sender. END OF!

Sherlock Holmes said "when you have eliminated everything else, what is left, however improbable, must be the truth!"

Steve

Bugger, 3 different senders from 3 different suppliers and still up the duff, guess I'll just have to purchase another one, any suggestions?

Fitchetts or Robsport would be my choices. More chance of getting the correct Triumph one, rather than the usual over reading Landrover one which is often sold as "just as good" IT ISN'T!

Steve

Yes, I'm inclined to agree. 3 completely short circuit senders. Can you check the d.c. resistance of the sensor elements with a dvm on the ohms range at room temperature please. It should be about 2,600 ohms. Just holding it your hand for a minute will warm it up and the resistance will drop to about 2,200 ohms.
Edit : Assuming the Toledo sender is the same as the Dolomite 1850 one.
Tony.

I got mine from Robsport, (a year ago) and I know it's correct as it read exactly as the original, which I changed only for the sake of.

I've ordered one from Robsport, will fit it when it arrives, but for now, I got an MoT this morning and drove it to and from work today, glad to have it back! Ragged it a bit and could touch the top coolant hose no problem so I know it's not overheating (it never did, always ran at 90 when I ised an infrared temp gun) wheel bearing or possibly propshaft is knocking away (inclined to say wheelbearing as when I turn a certain way it quitens off, but only at a certain amount)

I'll try and get the robsport one fitted when I do the thrustwasher on the crank and service the poor thing

I also bought mine from Rob sport, spot on.

I also tested mine using a spare temp gauge, a beaker of almost boiling water and a bench supply set to 10.5 volts (I believe this is the voltage from the voltage regulator) and the temp gauge sat near straight up, this is also repeated when it is in the car.

good luck

Malcolm

Mine that reads very low starts at 2 then goes down to 1.6 is that why my gauge isn't reading currently? A big batch of shite senders out there? Admittedly they were just cheap ones off of the Bay.