Driving without temperature gauge

[Trevor Jessie]

Some ham fisted idiot (me) broke my temperature gauge. I was planning on driving to a show this weekend that is about 200 miles round trip. Should I go ahead and go without the gauge? My car does not have any sort of overheating/coolant loss history. I'd like to just replace it, but I'm not sure I can find one in time.

 

[RobSelina]

why not get a temporary replacement for piece of mind? just run it over the engine bay and under the dash.

For $40, seems worth the insurance.

Although your car has never had any issues with cooling, we all know how murphy's law works....

 

[Morris]

You can pick up a temporary replacement at Harbor Freight for about $10.

 

[Tullamore]

The temp gauge on my sprite has never worked. I use my oil pressure gauge as an indication on temperature. But my car isn't supercharged....

 

[Trevor Jessie]

I've thought about running a temporary one, but I wasn't sure about the threads on the head/adapter. Is it a pretty generic size?

 

[Phireman]

I put a temp in my 1500 Midget that I bought at Autozone for 15 bucks. The terp sender screwed right into the existing spot. Don't know if it would work on a 1275.

 

[Baz]

Trevor, Would you mind letting me know what happens if you get a temp gauge. I have a dual gauge arriving tomorrow and I'm a little apprehensive about changing it / messing it up, and losing my oil gauge too. If there is something temporary out there that I could use if this gauge transplant goes pear shaped, I'd really like to know. Thanks in advance.

 

[dklawson]

The Sunpro/Actron $17 units at Advance Auto will have the same 5/8-18 threads as the Smiths units and will fit the head on the 1275 the same as the gauge you're removing. (If you used the BMC adapter fitting before, you'll need it with the Sunpro). The gauge I'm talking about is mechanical... not electrical, so installing it would be as others have suggested, pulling the capillary tube through the firewall and running it over the engine to the front of the head. No wires and easily removed later.

When you get back from the show, read up on Baz's thread about his gauge. I posted a link there to a site discussing DIY repair of the mechanical temp gauges... which I assume is what you damaged.

 

[Trevor Jessie]

Thanks Doug,
It looks like I'll be going out and buying a cheapo gauge for the weekend trip, and then maybe trying to graft that bulb/line onto my old head unit next week. If I fail, then I'm only out a few dollars. Worth a gamble I suppose. If that doesn't work, I'll shell out the $$$ for a new smiths gauge.