Temp Gauge Sender issues

The aftermarket senders are bad out of the box sometime. Some go bad after a few days. I finally bought an OEM one from a Chrysler dealer and it has worked fine since.

I would try the following.

1. If you have an ohmmeter, check the resistance of the sender. It should read about 60-80 ohms at cold. It should read about 20-30 with the engine warm. Measure from the center pin of the sender to the case of the sender.

I have seen a number of them read about 2000 ohms when they go bad..

Harbor Freight sells ohmmeter for about $5 as I recall, or Lowe’s has nice ones for about $30. Watch some YouTube videos if you don’t know how to use it.

2. Ground the wire going to the sender to the sender case or engine block and see if the gauge moves. Don’t leave it grounded more than a few seconds or you may damage gauge.Helps to have an assistant to watch the gauge.