MasterOSkillio

Today I stopped my car to do something and left it idling while I was away for 5 minutes. The temperature today was about 30 degrees F, and the car was at operating temperature. When I got back into my car the temperature gauge was in the upper part of the max safe zone, where as in the past I have never seen it leave the middle of the gauge. I got in the car for five minutes got it up to speed and the temp went back down to normal, it took almost no time for the temperature to come back down.

Needles to say I am a little concerned, I know radiator fan still works, but I am not sure though if the water pump is going or if the temperature sensor might be on its way out. I am inclined to say temperature sensor, because when I got into the car the temperature went down so fast. I would still like to know if there is a way to check the water pressure from the pump to see if that needs to be replaced. Would the idiot light go off if the pressure was low or does it only go off when there is a low level of liquid?

Also how hard would it be to install some water pressure, oil pressure, and a voltmeter gauge, to see if the battery is getting charge?

sr91240

iTrader: (2)

if the water pump is bad it would leak coolant from it check the level and test the ph of the coolant before spendin alot of money on it but it could very well just be a bad sensor but they are relatively cheap

MasterOSkillio

yeah, I figured a new sensor would be the best way to go.

dkdeleon

Before you go out and buy something you might not need check the resistance of the temp sensor with an ohms meter, here is the info to follow:
temp C (F) / resistance in K ohms
20 (68) / 2.1 - 2.9 K ohms
50 (122) / 0.68 - 1.00 K ohms
80 (176) / 0.30 - 0.33 K ohms

motegineon

sounds like your low on fluid

put the car on slight incline
put heater on full blast
open rad. cap carefully
turn on car
add distilled water as needed
once it has taken all it can massage heater hoses to make sure there is no air, also both the hoses should be hot, not only one..
cap off rad and drive around, maybe replace radiator cap while ur at it if urs is old and get the higher psi one..