Need help finding new temperature gauge

OK, sure, I'll give it a go. I just got back from RadioShack with a 5-pack of 100 ohm 1/2 watt resistors.

I've never worked with these components, so you'll have to speak more slowly. What does it mean to wire them in parallel? It sounds like I should not run them end-to-end (serially?), but rather solder all 4 so that 4 ends of the resistors go to 1 wire and the other 4 ends to a 2nd wire?

Can I do this with everything out of the vehicle? Run a positive terminal battery wire to one end of the IVR, a wire from the other spade of the IVR (I think there's 2, having just recently replaced mine) to the instrument, and then run the ground terminal from the instrument through the "resistor I built" to the negative terminal on the battery? Would that work?

A garage told us that the fuel sending unit was bad, so that's why I was just making the assumption that I don't yet need to test the fuel guage. Specifically, I'm more interested in testing the temperature gauge. With the cluster out, I might as well check both.

Is there an easy way to test my IVR? Run the positive battery wire through it and back to the negative terminal on the battery? It should have 12 volts input and 5 output, right? I haven't worked with electronics much, so I apologize for the basic questions that make you cringe.


Thanks!