I have a 94 Toyota pick up 4x4 v6. I've had the heads redone and replaced the water pump twice now.

Right front bank blew on head gasket after having them redone my temp gauge goes to about 2 o'clock on the gauge. I've put in 2 water pumps and 2 thermostats and even a new coolant temp sensor and it still runs hot getting close to red and then it just drops to about 1 o'clock on the gauge. I've also replaced the clutch fan as well.

I think my cluster is bad. I've driven about 200 miles at one time while this is going on and truck still runs great but gauge has me nervous.

Any help would be great.

Thank you
Tom

 

You should know that the oem temp gauge is a joke. It does not indicate the real temp.
Old clogged radiators are a common reason for overheating.
http://radiators.com

 

it's not a clogged radiator that was tested. I kept driving when it registered hot and its still going fine. But I would like to fix it but I don't want to screw up my dash by screwing into it.

Does the sr5 cluster work any better? Or is there a sensor that connects to the gauge? I see the 4cylinder trucks have a gusts sensor and a coolant temp sensor.

I'm hoping it's a grudge sensor since I've replaced the coolant tempt sensor already, along with 2 water pumps, clutch fan, and 2 thermostats.

 

I believe it's possible to put the head gaskets in wrong thereby blocking some of the coolant ports in the block. If this just started after you changed the gaskets that's a good possibility.