hey guys, My water temp gauge in my 1988 22r pickup seems not to be working right. Now the gauge barely lifts 1/8 of an inch from 0 driving for a while. Any suggestions thanks

 

I have had the sending unit for the temp gauge go bad and not read properly, so it could be that. What temperature thermostat are you running ?.

 

I just fixed the same problem on my sons 94 PU. Put a new Thermostat in it and it registers on the gauge now

 

take an infrared gun to the radiotor and other point son the motor. if it reads around 180 the thermostat is fine and the sender/ gauge is broken. if it reads closer then vice versa.

 

Where should the needle be on the gauge? Mine stays exactly in the middle but the engine seems a little warmer than usual to me. And can you buy cooler thermostat?

 

SR5 guage cluster? Very common the gauge will most likely NOT work. Mine doesnt =) Never had one (or seen or heard of) one failing on a stock basic cluster. It's not the sender, its the actual gauge. On two trucks I replaced the basic clusters with SR5's and both gauges either were bunk from beginning or eventually malfunctioned. This has been reported on SR5 gauge clusters for years tho

I installed a aftermarket TEMP gauge right below the rheostat (lil knob, lower left-controls interior lights; dimmer), fits perfect in that cubby and is dead accurate with an actual number reading. Much more reliable than any of the Toyota "guess where the needle is" gauge in the clusters.


unfortuanetly my computer was stolen (and on it was everything i ever had toyota related) so this is the only shot i have at the moment of the gauge.

 

I replaced my temp sending unit, and it "worked" for a solid 2 weeks. I'm thinking my DLX gauge is fubar. I'm not about to replace the sending unit again to validate my claim. A cheap aftermarket gauge costs $20 compared to the $45 sending unit from the stealership. So that's my next mod.

 

Comparing my stock gauge to numbers from a "real" gauge shows my factory gauge staying smack dab in the middle through a wide range of temps, like around 170* F to 235* F. I wouldn't spend a lot of money for that info myself.