TEMPERATURE GUAGE OUT OF POSITION

[BRIDGEMILL]

2013 Gran Tourismo-
Car sat for 3 months and battery went dead. Charged battery and started up fine HOWEVER the temperature gauge needle is now pointing to the left toward the tachometer. When I let the car run, the needle moves counterclockwise the proper amount and the car is not overheating. It's just a quarter turn out of position. Is there a common issue with the pointer coming loose on these cars?

 

[dickygrace]

It’s not something I’ve ever seen

 

[philw696]

Certainly a strange one to me.

 

[conaero]

Try a battery reset and give it a wack on the top. The needles do pull off and can be repositioned but they don’t move on there own. Odd that one

 

[BRIDGEMILL]

Thanks, I have tried the battery reset and also the dashboard reset, but no luck. Anyone want to swap this car for a running Healey 100-4 or an XK120 project?

 

[midlifecrisis]

The temperature guage is only an indication to you, not the car. I'm sure the fans come on if the engine gets too hot.

It's a curiuos one, granted. I was loooking at mine thinking how it could have gone askew. All I can think of is that they are not tradional voltage driven gauges of old but driven by a stepper motor and a canbus instruction to move by a few degrees as the engine warms up. Somehow its 'starting position' moved 180 degrees and now you're stuck with it. Maybe someone with a SD3 could instruct it to go back.

I'm just offering an idea here.

 

[BRIDGEMILL]

The temperature guage is only an indication to you, not the car. I'm sure the fans come on if the engine gets too hot.

It's a curiuos one, granted. I was loooking at mine thinking how it could have gone askew. All I can think of is that they are not tradional voltage driven gauges of old but driven by a stepper motor and a canbus instruction to move by a few degrees as the engine warms up. Somehow its 'starting position' moved 180 degrees and now you're stuck with it. Maybe someone with a SD3 could instruct it to go back.

I'm just offering an idea here.

Yes, I'm sure that is the situation, I don't drive it a lot, and it has some other quirks- sometimes the trunk release button quits working and then will correct itself. I'm sure if I take it and my wallet to a dealer they could re-set it. For now I just put a little piece of tape on the lense where the normal temperature mark is. I'll pull it out and drive it for a few days and see if any thing happens.

 

[midlifecrisis]

Yes, I'm sure that is the situation, I don't drive it a lot, and it has some other quirks- sometimes the trunk release button quits working and then will correct itself. I'm sure if I take it and my wallet to a dealer they could re-set it. For now I just put a little piece of tape on the lense where the normal temperature mark is. I'll pull it out and drive it for a few days and see if any thing happens.

Can you take a photo of it, when cold (or off!) and when it is normal please, just for clarity of fault finding from afar?

 

[BRIDGEMILL]

UPDATE:
Seems that every time I start the car and bring it up to temperature and then let it cool down, the needle does not return to the original cold position. It is in effect moving clockwise bit by bit- Once it reaches its proper position, I am going to disconnect the battery and see if it holds the position.

 

[spkennyuk]

UPDATE:
Seems that every time I start the car and bring it up to temperature and then let it cool down, the needle does not return to the original cold position. It is in effect moving clockwise bit by bit- Once it reaches its proper position, I am going to disconnect the battery and see if it holds the position.

Might be worth unplugging the temp sender unit and leave the battery connected. If it doesnt drop to zero then it points to the gauge being at fault or wiring to it.

If it does drop to zero then maybe the sender is fubar but its really odd behavior for that.