I think I'm gonna do what Tom did and zip tie the thing in the up position so I don't have to bother with it.
As stated, just make sure you don't end up like the "Runaway Lexus" driver if your throttle sticks open. You're smart enough to turn off the key, but *whoops*, you turned it too far, locked the steering wheel, and less than 2 seconds later crashed into a busload of Nuns and Orphans at 90MPH while frantically trying to turn the key to unlock it again.
Your profile says "1988 xr7", so I'm assuming the 5.0 V8?
Could be a bad sensor, a bad gauge, incorrect voltage to the gauge, or actually overheating.
If you have a volt/ohm meter, you can check the resistance of the coolant sensor, to see if it's in range. It's as good a place as any to start (And this might be better in the "Engine Tech" section).
4 common causes: Vacuum pipes or parts for the heater controls. Cruise control release valve at the brake pedal (if equipped). Automatic parking brake release (if equipped). Turbo boost gauge hose (but you don't have one).
whats resistivity readings you getting on your gauge?
12.5 ohms. Of course, you can't make any simple conclusions with that, since a heater wire's resistance will change drastically once it gets hot.
Example 1: 14.5v (running) / 12.5ohms = 1.16amps = 16.82watts I'm pretty sure my dash never got that toasty.
Example 2: H4 headlight bulb: 14.5v / 0.2ohms = 72.5amps = 1051watts Obviously, the headlights would suck up ALL the alternator's output if the filament's resistance didn't change *really* soon after power was applied.
The only way to properly test is with an in-line ammeter to measure the flow, and calculate back to get the ohms with the circuit in use.
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It does reduce the voltage down and with approx 60ohms at approx 12vdc, that tells us a lot.
But that's a completely separate circuit, that just happens to be in the same case as the contacts. The power supply to the gauges doesn't go through the coil, just the points. And the circuit isn't isolated from the rest of the car, so the heater coil won't affect the voltage any more than opening the glove box and having the little light bulb turn on.
The symbol shown in that regulator looks more like a heating element than a relay coil
Because that's exactly what it is. Something has to heat up the bi-metal strip. You'll see the same wire wrapped around the "actuator" strip holding the needles in the other gauges. Here's a fuel gauge I just took out of my Turbo cluster to illustrate... .
Oh, just let him live under the fender. Eventually he'll get careless, and one rainy evening you'll jump into your car, quickly start up the engine, hear a led "thunk-thunk", and when you back up a bit up you'll find this. Serves him right for trying to jump through a spinning fan belt. .
Unless my memory has gone to pot, the sensor for the gauge is a single wire, down low behind the distributor on the driver's side, and the EEC sensor is in the metal heater pipe, passenger side, close to the oil filler, 2-wire connector.
If you're not losing fluid (doesn't need to be topped up), then there's an internal leak, and that spells master cylinder. Was the second MC new, used, or rebuilt?
What a great setup! A quick google search reveals that some people flag the ads of competitors, while others have nothing better to do but to nitpick discrepancies of ads ad flag them. How f'n lame is that?
As FHelp would have told you, it takes MANY flags to bring an ad down, not just a couple of disgruntled weenies.
Oh, next you'll be complaining that the nose doesn't belong on that year (quarter windows do look kinda pre-87 squarish), the hood prop rod looks silly, and that spark plug #3 is gapped wrong.