Water Temp gauge gone nuts!!

[CJ 16v]

So a while ago my water temp guage would shoot up randomly and the red warning light would flicker.

I always drive with the MFA on oil temp so I knew there was nothing serious wrong and ignored it.

Now the guage is stuck off the scale to the right, even when the car is off, and although the light does not flicker any more and my oil temp is fine, I'd like to get this sensor sorted - if it is indeed the sensor.

Has anyone had a similar problem and if so is it the guage or the sensor/sender?  if it is the sender/sensor, which one and what does it look like and where on the car is it etc???

Thanks guys.

[Overseer]

uhh..

why would looking at the oil temp show u if the coolant is ok? (unless u press it of course..)

someone posted here the other day about the sensor maybe going.. which sounds like your "randomness"

this could be due to dodgy sensor.. airlocks... or a real problem with coolant

what is the coolant level like?

[CJ 16v]

This started in December, and the guage packed in within a few weeks.

The coolant level is fine - 3 weeks ago I drained and flushed the oil and coolant and there were no signs of anything going wonky.

I'm inclined to believe it's a sender or guage.

The reason I look at the oil temp is I didn't trust the water guage!  I figured that until I fix this problem, at least I can keep an eye on the oil temp to make sure the engine does not overheat.  The engine does not overheat, thnak god.

[Overseer]

after what someone else posted here before.. i'd guess it was the sender

look in the main/top section here.. think it was in there.

[CJ 16v]

Cheers Seer - I'm trawling through a search results thing now but haven't come across it as yet....

[Overseer]

here >> http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=18834.0

 

[CJ 16v]

Yeah - I'd seen that one, and your own nightmare a while back...

Someone told me that there is a switch on the rad with 3 or 4 wires which just does the fan and that the other one, the one for the guage and light is on the block, passenger side near the themostat and it's single pole......ring any bells anyone?  Apparently this is not the same on the 8v - just the mk3 16v...?

[adyh]

I would say that if the water temperature gauge is permanently right , even with the ignition off , then the guage is hosed . It maybe that you have a faulty sensor aswell .

[mowgli]

Personally, I think the guage has gone tit$ as it wouldn't read Full Scale Deflection when the car is switched off.  I would still change the sender as 1) its the easiest thing to get to out of the two possibilities and 2) it wont do any harm to have a new sender anyway depending on the age of the car.

Are all the other instruments on the dash OK??  It might be a power supply problem on the dash otherwise, if they are fine then its probably as above.