Temp gauge not working 2.8 injection

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essexstu
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Temp gauge not working 2.8 injection

Post by essexstu »

Hi All

New to the forum having just bought my first Capri, a 1982 2.8 injection.

The temp gauge isn't working. If I earth the single temp sender wire to the base of the sender the gauge goes to maximum. The gauge therefore works and the wiring is fine. I have ordered and fitted a new sender. Still no reading on gauge.

I have checked that the coolant is circulating, the top and bottom radiator hoses get warm. The coolant reservoir is full to the correct level and with engine running and cap off I can see the coolant circulating.

I have also put the new sender in a cup of boiled water and earthed the body of the sender and still no reading on the gauge.

Any suggestions? Am I missing a trick?

Cheers
Stu
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Andrew 2.8i
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Re: Temp gauge not working 2.8 injection

Post by Andrew 2.8i »

essexstu wrote:The temp gauge isn't working. If I earth the single temp sender wire to the base of the sender the gauge goes to maximum. The gauge therefore works and the wiring is fine. I have ordered and fitted a new sender. Still no reading on gauge.
Hi,
Welcome to the forum. :welcome:
If the wiring works fine, it must be the sender that is faulty. I would be tempted to try fitting another known working unit. Either that, or try the new sender in another car to see if it works there.

Andrew.
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essexstu
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Re: Temp gauge not working 2.8 injection

Post by essexstu »

Thanks Andrew, I'll no doubt be posting on here regularly with lots of questions lol

Spoke to supplier Burton Power who have been very helpful and they are posting me another sender. If that doesn't work is there anything else it could possibly be?
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Andrew 2.8i
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Re: Temp gauge not working 2.8 injection

Post by Andrew 2.8i »

essexstu wrote: Spoke to supplier Burton Power who have been very helpful and they are posting me another sender. If that doesn't work is there anything else it could possibly be?
A faulty sender is definitely where I'd put my money, it wouldn't be the first time that a new part is faulty.
The only other thing I can think it might be is an iffy connection on the bullet connector. Perhaps if the wire is moved slightly the contact with the connector breaks. As I said though, it's more likely that the new sender is not working.
Fair play to Burton for sorting out a replacement, let us know how it works out.

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Re: Temp gauge not working 2.8 injection

Post by Caprigear »

Have you got the correct temp sender? I have the correct ones in stock.
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essexstu
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Re: Temp gauge not working 2.8 injection

Post by essexstu »

ok, so new sender arrived today. Its from Burton Power specific for the 2.8i (black with blade connector).

Fitted and ran engine until hoses hot. The gauge has moved! Only slightly though, not enough to even reach the first sold white line. This is just with the car in the garage and idling with some revving to 3000 rpm. Is it just not getting hot enough? I assumed that driving the car would actually cool even more with the air rushing through the radiator but maybe it doesnt get fully hot unless running at a continuous medium rev range?

Where should the gauge read?

cheers
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Andrew 2.8i
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Re: Temp gauge not working 2.8 injection

Post by Andrew 2.8i »

essexstu wrote:ok, so new sender arrived today. Its from Burton Power specific for the 2.8i (black with blade connector)
Hi,
It's good to hear that a new sender has proved that the original one was faulty. However, I am sorry to say that's not the correct sender. The correct one has a white ring.
Obviously, the incorrect sender will affect the reading on the gauge. I think I'm right in saying that the black ringed sender will make the gauge read cooler on the gauge than it actually should (as yours indeed does).
For reference, my gauge reads just over half way on the gauge when the engine is hot. When idling, the gauge goes up to about 3/4, maybe a little higher.
:goodluck:

Andrew.
Last edited by Andrew 2.8i on Tue Dec 18, 2018 5:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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essexstu
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Re: Temp gauge not working 2.8 injection

Post by essexstu »

Caprigear
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Re: Temp gauge not working 2.8 injection

Post by Caprigear »

It's wrong, If I had been asked I would have supplied the correct one first time.'
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essexstu
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Re: Temp gauge not working 2.8 injection

Post by essexstu »

Caprigear wrote:It's wrong, If I had been asked I would have supplied the correct one first time.'
How much for the correct one? How do I order?

My lower facia panel is also split, do you have one?

Stu
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Andrew 2.8i
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Re: Temp gauge not working 2.8 injection

Post by Andrew 2.8i »

essexstu wrote:So this is wrong for the 2.8i?
https://www.burtonpower.com/water-tempe ... xtt45.html
As Martin says, yes it is wrong. Does your car even have a female spade connector on the sender wire? It would have been a female bullet connector when new.

You can either call Martin at the workshop or send him a PM.

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essexstu
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Re: Temp gauge not working 2.8 injection

Post by essexstu »

Andrew 2.8i wrote:
essexstu wrote:So this is wrong for the 2.8i?
https://www.burtonpower.com/water-tempe ... xtt45.html
As Martin says, yes it is wrong. Does your car even have a female spade connector on the sender wire? It would have been a female bullet connector when new.

You can either call Martin at the workshop or send him a PM.

Andrew.
Doh. I assumed Burton would know the correct one. I changed the connector, it was a bullet connector. There are other posts on here which says the black spade one is right for 2.8i. It's all very confusing.

Martin, I have emailed you
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Re: Temp gauge not working 2.8 injection

Post by Daz-RSK »

Obviously try to seek out the original solution before embarking on the direction I went. Original is best in my book!

The direction I have found to resolve this was borne out of frustration of senders not working / working well and clumsy Colin here snapping the head off the last temp sensor I inserted into the cylinder head. The original sensor used to only sense just above the cold which is something that clearly is not right. Subsequent sensor did the same. I did test the wring and that was fine.

After a year of having a temp gauge that didn't really respond, I decided for the final time to extract the sensor, snapped the head off of it, felt like a pillock and thought that there must be a better way here.

If any of you remember back to the 1980s, those old enough, you'll remember that a conversion people used to do was to change their viscous fan to an electric fan. This added 3bhp, if I recall, and back then when 80bhp was generally the rule of thumb, hey--- we shouldn't knock that extra 3bhp.

So some of the simple versions were made by Kenlowe (other brands of course were available). But the Kenlowe version, you used to place a temp sensor into one of the coolant pipe (usually the top hose) and the wire would trail out of the pipe, under the jubilee clip and down to the electric cooling fan. This then had a thermostat to control when you wanted the fan to kick in and out.

So modifying this idea a little, I thought wouldn't a good solution for my sorry issue be that I didn't want the fan, but would take everything else that came with that kit. The sensor and a read out.

And I found something - in Hong Kong - that did what I wanted. So the bad news is that this is so far from original, it's like placing coil springs and independent rear suspension on the Capri. Well not quite, but you get my meaning.

The good news is that the accuracy of the coolant reading is so good, I get to the 0.0 reading in centigrade exactly what is going on. I never got that accuracy with the gauge. Well, I never saw any accuracy at all. So I quite like the substance over style.

But in your shoes, I would persevere with the style first and then look for the substance. If you want to know more, I'll find where I got all of this. It wasn't expensive.

What I have done is rigged it all up within one of the coolant hoses, sensor on the end testing the temp of the coolant and then placed the read out on the lower dashboard, between the clock and clutch pedal area. It works effectively, if a little out of place. But with these older motors, you can't be too careful and overheating is one of their failings as they get older. That can come partly because the gauge is not so good. No more issue with this method of temp reading.

But accepted, this looks a little crude and out of place. I have placed a Youtube video up here to show what it looks like. The aim of the video was to test which was the faster way to get to operating temp - by running the car down the street, like a typical journey out, or idling the car in your driveway. That was all.

This footage here is the motion one and I do have the static idling version as well, because I am sad like that.

So which one is the fastest way to warm your car up then ? Answers on a postcard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6AI03nY280
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Lcnlee
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Re: Temp gauge not working 2.8 injection

Post by Lcnlee »

I had a black on in mine always read really low until it spat it's dummy out and would God off the scale in a minute. I have now fitted the correct sender (white ring) and it works perfectly, I got it from burton power. It reads just over half way see link below, this is after a 50 mile run.

http://i1043.photobucket.com/albums/b43 ... yhruzk.jpg
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essexstu
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Re: Temp gauge not working 2.8 injection

Post by essexstu »

thanks for the feedback guys, I have the "correct" sender coming from Martin so hopefully all will be well once fitted.

Have also ordered a new set of tyres. 205/60 R13s are hard to get now it seems. Nankang do some but are crap from what I have read so got a nice set of Vredestein Sprint Classics. Not cheap though.

Set of silicone coolant hoses also ordered so they will be fitted shortly. Should look good as well.
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Re: Temp gauge not working 2.8 injection

Post by Andrew 2.8i »

essexstu wrote:Have also ordered a new set of tyres. 205/60 R13s are hard to get now it seems. Nankang do some but are crap from what I have read so got a nice set of Vredestein Sprint Classics. Not cheap though.
It's worth bearing in mind for next time that Dunlop have recently introduced their "Sport Classic" tyre in the size 205/60 R13. Like the Vredestein they are not cheap though.

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Re: Temp gauge not working 2.8 injection

Post by Jasonmarie »

Andrew 2.8i wrote:
essexstu wrote:Have also ordered a new set of tyres. 205/60 R13s are hard to get now it seems. Nankang do some but are crap from what I have read so got a nice set of Vredestein Sprint Classics. Not cheap though.
It's worth bearing in mind for next time that Dunlop have recently introduced their "Sport Classic" tyre in the size 205/60 R13. Like the Vredestein they are not cheap though.

Andrew.
I did see that sometime ago but where I Don’t remember as I have falken Tyres the same as John .
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Andrew 2.8i
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Re: Temp gauge not working 2.8 injection

Post by Andrew 2.8i »

Jasonmarie wrote: I did see that sometime ago but where I Don’t remember as I have falken Tyres the same as John .
I've got Falkens at the moment. It's a shame that they don't do them anymore as they seem like a really good tyre. Well, they are black and round, so that's good enough for me! :D
I think next time I'll go for the Dunlops.

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Re: Temp gauge not working 2.8 injection

Post by Jasonmarie »

That’s funny in my mind I thought you had , yes there’s not much choice as nick went for the 15’ as there is so much more to go for .
Never had the chance to feel what they are like in the wet , back in the day I always had good year .
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essexstu
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Re: Temp gauge not working 2.8 injection

Post by essexstu »

Andrew 2.8i wrote:
Jasonmarie wrote: I did see that sometime ago but where I Don’t remember as I have falken Tyres the same as John .
I've got Falkens at the moment. It's a shame that they don't do them anymore as they seem like a really good tyre. Well, they are black and round, so that's good enough for me! :D
I think next time I'll go for the Dunlops.

Andrew.
yeah Falkens fitted to mine at the moment but dated 2004 so I think they need changing lol

Got the Vredesteins for £120 each. I spoke to a guy in the trade and he said they are a good tyre. Made in Netherlands (not China).

Dunlops obviously very good and probably the best but were £140 each and difficult to source.
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