Sending Unit for Temperature Gauge

[Fox1809]

The engine temperature gauge in my 76 Dart Sport with a 318 never gets above about 120 or 130 degrees, even in hot weather. Replaced 180 thermostat with a new 180 thermostat and gauge is still reading too low. Next thing I want to try is replacing the sending unit with a Standard Motor Products TS17 sending unit. Do you think this will solve problem? How much coolant will come out when the old sending unit is taken out?

 

[4spdragtop]

Both gauge and or sender could be toast. Check temps with a gun

 

[Mike69cuda]

Harbor freight has the infrared heat guns as noted above for about $25 on sale sometimes. That will tell you if the temp gauge is accurate.

The sensor is a good place to start. A lot of antifreeze will come out when you take it out. You can drain it first or just swap it fast. If the sensor doesn’t fix it, it can be lot of trouble to tear into the dash.

Are your fuel and oil pressure gauges accurate? If not it could be the dash voltage regulator.

Mine has aftermarket oil & temp gauges, that might be an easy way out if you really want the accurate readings.

 

[Garrett Ellison]

Drain down halfway or so, about the same minimum amount to change out a thermostat. I agree with the aftermarket gauge installation, after fifty years of service, I find it amazing that the stock gauges even work at all.

 

[Fox1809]

Fuel gauge also reads lower than it should. There is no oil pressure gauge, just a red light. Where is dash voltage regulator located? Where can a replacement be purchased from?

 

[Garrett Ellison]

They plug into back of instrument cluster, and can usually be found on eBay, or P/N SMP-VRC601 at Summit racing for $33.99. A better option, if I recall correctly, is that there is an article on valiant.org about how to make one out of modern electronic components. The originals are based on 1930's technology and just basically provides a duty cycle of around 33 to 41 percent average on cycle time for a 5 volt output.

 

[Mike69cuda]

Sounds like it could be a voltage regulator. There is a lot of info about them on this site. I believe they are called IVR, Instrument Voltage Regulators. Definitely get an electronic one as mentioned. I have not had any experience with later model dashes, so I don’t know how hard it is on yours to replace. I am sure there a lot of folks on here who have.

 

[Garrett Ellison]

Sounds like it could be a voltage regulator. There is a lot of info about them on this site. I believe they are called IVR, Instrument Voltage Regulators. Definitely get an electronic one as mentioned. I have not had any experience with later model dashes, so I don’t know how hard it is on yours to replace. I am sure there a lot of folks on here who have.

I think you can get to it from underneath the instrument cluster but I would highly recommend dropping the steering column down and pulling the cluster out of the dash enough to reach it. If I recall, it is on the top right at about the same height as the ammeter leads. I went with a new vintage gauge set but you could go much less expensive if you look at what some other members have done in the how to, and probably have a lot more room to work with as well. By the time I added in a brake indicator light and a few other odds and ends, it was just about all I could manage to get the cluster to go in, but it was well worth the trouble.