Gauges acting funny.....Temp gauge reading 230-250 all the time

[MoparMotel]

Hey guys had my cluster restored by Redline gauges in around 05-06. Did not drive the car from Jan 07- Dec. 08. Motor was rebuilt dec. 2008 and ever since i got it back the gauges are REALLY slow to move and the temp gauge reads 230-250 all the time. We put a manual gauge on the car and it is only running at 185. The guy i took it to said the gauge cluster is receiving the 30 ohms or whatever is needed to give an accurate reading, but it is not working.

My question is, what would make the gauges start working really slow and the temp gauge give a false reading? They worked perfect in 07 before i stopped driving the car.

[A383Wing]

Poor ground, faulty gauge limiter, bad sender in engine for the gauge....

Just for starters....

[MoparMotel]

Thank you. Will have to check those. Forgot to mention had Redline send me a new voltage stabilizer but didn't help much.

[redfourjohnd]

If all the gauges are moving slow, that should be a function of the voltage limiter. The originals gave 12 volts to the gauges for a second or so before dropping to a pulsed 12 volts. The full 12 volts caused the needles to swing up fast. If redline sent you a limiter that sends just 5 volts constant (like the home built solid state limiter that there are tutorials for, built from Radio Shack parts) the needles will move slower, but it will be a more or less constant speed until it gets to the reading.

Does the temp needle move smoothly? If not the needle may be loose or binding with the bimetallic arms in the gauge. Also, changing limiters can make the gaugesneed a recalibration. I calibrated my gauges to the constant 5 volt limiter I built, then tried an NOS mopar limiter I bought and the readings were way low compared to the home built. Check the stuff that you don't have to remove the cluster for first though,it's kind of a hassle. It does sound a little like the gauge is miscalibrated though.

Thanks,

John D

[TylerCharger69]

I'm leaning towards ground....If you have, for example, an aftermarket fuel gauge, it will read FULL until you hook up the ground and only when its grounded will you get a proper reading

[redfourjohnd]

I just got my gauges back in the car and the temp gauge didn't read. Put in a new sender from NAPA and now the gauge goes right to 230. Did some investigating and it seems to be a fairly common problem that new senders give the wrong resistance for our gauges. A383wing hit it right away.

I'm looking for the fix now. It may be that I'll have to wire in a resistor to get the gauge to read right.

Thanks,

John D

[MoparMotel]

Did you ever find a fix for the sending unit problem? I haven't had time to mess with it. Still driving it around with the temp at 230 all the time.

[terrible one]

For what it's worth, I got a replacement sending unit for my 383 from Autozone and it works correctly with my rebuilt factory temp gauge.

[MoparMotel]

I'll have to try that, thanks!

[terrible one]

I'll have to try that, thanks!

Good luck! I could have sworn I had the box for the part number but couldn't find it. It was the Duralast brand though.

[Purple68]

I got mine from Summit and it worked correctly as well.

[W4ATL]

You can check the gauges for proper operation by using different resistances in line and see how far the meter moves.

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,41563.0.html