This summer has been extremely hot in the Montreal area 90 + almost every day.Lately I've noticed my temperature gauge (1986 GTV6 2.5L) has been moving above the 175oF mark which has never happened before.A couple of times my red coolant warning light came on in stop and go traffic.What an unpleasant feeling that produces :evil:So I went through the system.Thermostat is new and works,fans are good and come on as expected,all hoses are new,coolant is fresh 50/50 mix,tank cap is new and correct pressure rating,water pump is new.I checked the voltage drops on the fan circuits to make sure they were spinning at the correct speed.I had a spare Alfa temp.gauge and installed it and it gave me the same readings.So I decided to look into replacing or rebuilding my radiator.I spoke to my local Alfa guy and he told me that if damage and rust are not factors and if the coolant has been kept fresh then the GTV6 radiator should last virtually forever.As a last resort I went out and bought a thermometer attachment for my multimeter and strapped the probe to the top of my thermostat housing and low and behold the temperatures readings are a lot different from the gauge.The gauge reads 185oF and the real temperature is 160oF.What a relief
Obviously the sender unit is no longer sending the appropriate signal to the gauge,so before you spend your cash check out this possibilty.Spend your money on cold beer instead
The question part.Does anybody have the factory resistance values for this temperature gauge sender or can you suggest where to look for them ? I have all the AR shop manuals but can't find this info.
