misreading temp gauge

Thumpower, you need to determine if it's (in no particular order)

The sender

the gauge unit

The IVR

or a wiring / bad connection problem

You need to take some test resistors and check BOTH gauges. They are the same unit.

Hook a test resistor from the sender wire connection to a good ground, turn on the key for about a minute, and see what it reads.

Read this:

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?t=179517

Basically you need three resistors:

L = 73.7 Ohms (empty)
M = 23.0 Ohms (1/2)
H = 10.2 Ohms (full

They don't have to be "that close." 25 ohms for example is close enough for 1/2 scale. Go to RadioShack and buy a package of four -- 100 ohm, 1/2 watt resistors. Hook all 4 in parallel, which gives you one 25 ohm resistor.

Now if both gauges read high, the very first thing I'd suspect is the IVR is out of tolerance. Do yourself a favor and buy an RTE which is solid state.

There can be issues with the panel wiring, with connections at the gauges, and so on, but this would actually tend to make the gauges want to read low, not high.

Also, the fact that the fuel gauge "reads OK" may not be conclusive, as the sender may be wrong, and say, example, the IVR is too high, may be "luckily" ocmpensating.

Another thread

http://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/showthread.php?p=1970209465