Engine Temp Gauge goin Wacky

Ok, I have an '88 with a reman. 4.0. The other day my temperature gauge started fluctuating. I did a lil' research and decided to change my ECT sensor. After all said and done the gauge will now peg out to the right at start up then drop all the way to the left after I begin moving, then when I brake it will again go all the way to the right and etc. Heater works fine and coolant level is good. I have researched on here but all I can find is people talking about '94 and up temp. sending units, no help to me. Much help appreciated. Thanx in advance.

P.S. I wanna kick the engineers a$$ who thought it was a good idea to put the ECT sensor UNDER the exhaust manifold right above the engine mount. Kudos to you dumba$$.

There are two sending units, one on top of the head drivers side, near the firewall, for the gauge. The other lower left drivers side of the motor, for the ECU inputs.

The gauge uses a small coil winding. Current passes through the sending unit and into the gauge coil, which produces a magnetic field that tugs the gauge needle into position. If your gauge is pegging to the right, then you have an intermittent short to ground on that circuit.

As 8Mud said the gauge sender is separate unit on your model, and is located at the back of the head on the drivers side that looks like a threaded post. The sender might be defective and shorting out internally, or the single wire that leads down to it might be damaged.

Thanks, Ill check that out. I got a better reply from this forum than the other one (cherokeeforum.com). You have my following from now on. Thanks again.