Xf temp sender trouble

[Ando81 2,949]

Hey lads. As the title suggests, my temp gauge started to flicker in my ute today, going from 1/2 up to 3/4. It was a rapid movement on the needle and I found that the temp sender was dodgy. It is screwed into the front of the head and instead of having the normal end on it which takes a female blade terminal, it has a thread and an eyelet terminal is held onto it with a nut. My question is that when I located a stock xf sender with the other "normal" end on it and tried it, the gauge read right up on hot. There is obviously a difference in ohms being read on the sender. I plugged a digital cluster onto it and it read stone cold, can't follow that either. The vdo sender that was working correctly is numbered 2.02 120degree. Does this sender sound familiar to anyone?

[Ando81 2,949]

So...... I read that a standard xf sender should be about 160 ohms when cold and the standard xf unit was spot on but the one that had been working in my ute reads about 680 ohms. Seems strange to me.

[adrianphu123 73]

yep, had that trouble but not as bad as yours, always stayed between 1 and 4 bars. The instantaneous change between 1 and 4 bars suggested that there was a problem since its pretty much impossible to change that quickly. got a new sender and the problem continued for a few weeks until it finally settled down. 

[Ando81 2,949]

Wow, it is unusual for it to settle down by itself. I'm considering on mounting a speco temp gauge on the dash and ignoring the stock unit.

[adrianphu123 73]

yeah i got an autometer one

[adrianphu123 73]

it seems i have jinxed myself and the temp senders now reading slightly high even for a hot day, when my autometer gauge reads lower.

 

So either i have an actual problem or its just the sender

[Ando81 2,949]

Sorry to jinx ya bud! I tried a couple of different senders in my head today and I still get the same result, gauge reads above hot when engine is at normal operating temp. A fella offered me a new speco gauge for $50 so I might just fit it up and ignore the stock unit.

[Ando81 2,949]

So after trying a lot of different senders, my local parts shop found me a fuel miser sender that suited the original gauge. All running a lot cooler as it should and no flickering gauge any more.

[unfamilia 1,938]

Wish fixing the fuel sender was as easy lol

[Ando81 2,949]

What's up with your fuel sender bud?

[unfamilia 1,938]

Not reading right. Tried cleaning it twice but no good.

[Ando81 2,949]

Have you got another sender you could throw in it to compare the readings?

[Crazy2287 1,886]

You can test the sender with a multimeter and a pot of water, slowly brought to the boil while measureing the gauge. Can also test the gauge cluster with a 5k ohm potientometer, center pin in the wire for the sensor and either edge pin to the cylinder head. Turning the pot should alter the reading on the cluster.

[Ando81 2,949]

Hey crazy, thanks for the tip. I've sorted my temp gauge but unfamilia is having trouble with his fuel gauge sender. Any ideas how he can test those?

[Crazy2287 1,886]

I put a thread inthis site. Get hime to read it. I'm on mobile so too much hassel to chase it down but do a google search for "troubleshooting fuel level display crazy2287" and it should come up.

[unfamilia 1,938]

Yeah ive cleaned it twice with acetone twice already. No good reads full or just off full.

Only has one round orriface and dont have a spare to swap even for test.

[Crazy2287 1,886]

Jam a capacitor across the contacts. Different value caps should give different values on the gauge. Sorry but i have never truly figured out what farad = what on gauge.

 

Make sure you read the thread, It describes how to test the wiring and what size cap to use and ect ect:

 

http://www.ozfalcon.com.au/index.php?/topic/1972-guide-troubleshooting-fuel-level-display-capacitive-probe/