Gauges acting weird

I was driving today(110 degrees outside) and was running my AC and I got a block from my house and notice the coolant temp sensor dropped to like 130*. I sorta panic and turn the AC right off and the temp went right back to 210* and stayed steady for a few miles. With the AC still off the temp gauge dropped back way low and then came back up.

My oil pressure gauge was doing the same thing, bouncing from normal to way low. Each would drop way down stay like that for a few minutes then come back to normal for a long period before dropping back off. I couldn't see any thing that I was doing causing it, idling vs. accelerating or anything. they didn't seem to react to each other in any way, some times dropping together some times separate.

I got to where I was going and on the way back my gauges stayed normal the whole drive. I have an Ultra-gauge and it showed the same engine temp as my stock gauge so I don't think it is the actual gauge cluster. Just odd to me the oil and coolant temp would act up together. I haven't done any work or disconnected the temp sensor recently. I did disconnect the oil pressure sensor recently but it was typical unplug/plug in for my oil filter change.

97 country 4.0 auto 4x4

This might be a stretch.... My '98 did the same thing with the coolant temp.

Just for the heck of it, unplug the electrical connector for the temp sensor. It's on the thermostat housing. Clean everything as best as you can (contact cleaner, steel wool, wire brush, etc.), then add a little dielectric grease and put it back on.

This worked for myself and another member here. Corrosion will prevent good contact with the sensor.

As for the oil pressure... Dunno... Maybe try the same thing?

Yea I was thinking maybe just the connections were loose or something. It was just odd that the second I turned my AC off the temp went right back up, although it kept fluctuating back and forth after that.

I ended up buying a new temp sensor just for the heck of it, it's never been replaced anyways. I will see if it does it again with the new sensor.

mine did the same thing today. Did the new sensor fix the issue???

With the new sensor I haven't had a single issue.

iwannadie said:

With the new sensor I haven't had a single issue.

Click to expand...

guess thats my next move then. new h2o pump, t stat, new kelleyswip 0gauge wire set not much left in the system that could go wrong.