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MGTF1250Dave
Jedi Knight
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Aloha All,
I've just started driving a '58 TR3A that I bought to replace another TR3A that I gave to my son (a great reason to upgrade to a better TR3A). The water temperature gauge in this car is an electric gauge that uses an electric sending unit. I've noticed this gauge seems to be constantly changing. I am assuming the sending unit and gauge is a from a TR4 or later TR series. The gauge is a Smith's and the face is marked with "C", "N" and "H". The car does not have a thermostat installed and I have observed that at highway speed the gauge reads around the "N", but at a stop and at idle it will rapidly drop down towards "C". Upon moving, the gauge will move to "N" in a matter of 5-10 seconds. I did have a 165 degree F thermostat that I tested before installing, and the gauge would initally gradually move to the "H" and them drop back to "N" (I think after the thermostat openned). The car has not boiled over and is not losing coolant. I have a 70% water/30% antifreeze mix with water wetter added as coolant.
I have used a instant read thermometer to get the temperature of the coolant in the radiator and it is about 170 degrees F when the gauge reads "N".
My question is, are electric water temperature gauge more sensative than the older capilary tube remote reading thermometer gauges? My other TR3A the water temperature gauge did not have such rapid changes in readings. Could the gauge and sending unit be miss matched? I don't like seeing the gauge at "H", but the car doesn't seem to be over heating.
Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated.
Safety Fast,
Dave
I've just started driving a '58 TR3A that I bought to replace another TR3A that I gave to my son (a great reason to upgrade to a better TR3A). The water temperature gauge in this car is an electric gauge that uses an electric sending unit. I've noticed this gauge seems to be constantly changing. I am assuming the sending unit and gauge is a from a TR4 or later TR series. The gauge is a Smith's and the face is marked with "C", "N" and "H". The car does not have a thermostat installed and I have observed that at highway speed the gauge reads around the "N", but at a stop and at idle it will rapidly drop down towards "C". Upon moving, the gauge will move to "N" in a matter of 5-10 seconds. I did have a 165 degree F thermostat that I tested before installing, and the gauge would initally gradually move to the "H" and them drop back to "N" (I think after the thermostat openned). The car has not boiled over and is not losing coolant. I have a 70% water/30% antifreeze mix with water wetter added as coolant.
I have used a instant read thermometer to get the temperature of the coolant in the radiator and it is about 170 degrees F when the gauge reads "N".
My question is, are electric water temperature gauge more sensative than the older capilary tube remote reading thermometer gauges? My other TR3A the water temperature gauge did not have such rapid changes in readings. Could the gauge and sending unit be miss matched? I don't like seeing the gauge at "H", but the car doesn't seem to be over heating.
Any and all advice will be greatly appreciated.
Safety Fast,
Dave