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Temperature Gauge Fluctuation

madillon

NAXJA Forum User
Location
California
I was driving my 2000 Cherokee on the freeway yesterday when the "CHECK GAUGES" light came on and I saw that the temp gauge had spiked up to almost the max reading. I stopped as soon as possible, turned it off, and checked everything out. The coolant levels were fine, and the coolant in the reservoir didn't seem to be excessively hot/boiling. So I waited a couple minutes, and turned it back on. The gauge shot back up to 260 for a second, then dropped to 210, so I drove it back the rest of the 20 miles or so to home keeping an eye on the temp the whole way, but it never came back up.

I checked it out today and the coolant is definitely somewhat rusty and could use a flush, but I'm not sure that's the cause. I took it out for a short drive today to see what the temperature would do and it stayed between 210-220 for the entire drive without fluctuating until I was about a block from home. Suddenly the CHECK GAUGES light came on and the temp reading shot up to 250. I pulled over to the side of the road, turned it off, checked the coolant reservoir again, everything looked normal. After about 30 seconds of checking, I started it again, and the gauge went back up to 250 for about 5 seconds, then dropped to 210 again like it did yesterday.

It seems to me like it might be an issue with the temperature sensor, since the readings are fluctuating so fast. Has anyone else experienced this?
 
ive expierenced thingslike this before after doing a exchange of coolant on my jeep before i went to the "open system" because of a air pocket that would work its way to the sensor at that point it would read max. after that the coolant would get there and go back to 200...

personally i would change your t-stat and exchange your coolant. that way you dont have a sticky t-stat and new coolant isnt ever a bad idea.
 
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