How I saved £100 on a temperature gauge for my series 2 land rover

[@mad05c]

Thanks for the video. So I have a temp gauge but it’s reading hot when installed. I tried this test but it doesn’t move.
I had an older gauge laying around and test that one also- it doesn’t move. What am I missing?
My bench power supply is working when testing it with a voltmeter. Thoughts?

[@aguyandhisgarage]

@@mad05c Have you tried a IR thermometer to check whether the hot temperature reading is accurate? Temperature transducers can be calibrated differently and so may not be the correct one for your gauge.
As for the bench test, all I can think is that perhaps your earth terminal has broken internally and you are making an earth through the body of the gauge when fitted. You could easily try to test this theory.
If not let me know and I will have a deeper think about it.

[@mad05c]

@@aguyandhisgarage Can I simply test it with my car battery? Battery positive to top gauge terminal and then would I connect the bottom gauge terminal to the negative battery or to the frame for a ground?

[@aguyandhisgarage]

@@mad05c yes you could do. Connect it to the negative terminal on the gauge and then try to an exposed metal part of the body and see if there's any difference.
Just make sure you know which terminal is the positive on the gauge