HELP!! Customer;s 318ic

[kylebes1]

1992 318i Convertible

I replaced the engine and now the coolant temp guage stays pegged out to the max.

• Removed Cluster. Dissasembled. Removed Temp guage, seems ok. Ground nut is tight.
• Reassembled cluster, and plugged back into car.
• Cut Brown/Violet wire for gauge. Guage remains pegged.
• Checked plugs in block, everything is good, except the one that should be Brown/Violet is Brown/White. I kinda just figured it has faded.

The gauge should go to zero if the Brown/Violet wire is cut, correct? If so what is causing the gauge to stay up?

[parkerbink]

It is broken?

[AdamF 88iS]

You have a short somewhere. +12v will peg the gauge, and 0 gets you 0.

[kylebes1]

The only place a short could be is in the cluster. Has anyone had this happen before?

The customer says it worked before we worked on the car... bad thing is it was brought in on a Sunday, on a wrecker... #1 connecting rod was hanging out the side! I did not think to look at the cluster before I worked on it. I have created a checklist now for pre-anything.

[porsche gt1]

Maybe when they broke it it created the short. Do you have a cluster you can swap to test? or even an aftermarket guage to see if it is a faulty guage?

[Rocla]

Does it stay up when ingition is schwitched off?

[kylebes1]

Gauge goes down when key is off.

I do not have another gauge. I may be able to talk my friend into letting me get his out of his e30...

[dmoffitt]

(shot in the dark here) SI Board? Or is that just tach/speedo?

[kylebes1]

ok I robbed the cluster from my buddy's 325e. The temp gauge bounced a little, and read correctly.

So I ordered a new gauge, but now the temp guage does not work now that is back in my buddy's 325e.

More to come I am sure