'81 Temperature Guage on Dash

[C3Vette Lady]

Has anyone had problems with their temp guage inside their car? Mine was working fine and now all of a sudden it lays limply and unmoving below the hot side. I have wiggled the terminal and then sometimes it works, but will eventually go limp while I am driving. Not sure if this is related or not, but my turn signals and back up lights don't work either. Have replaced bulbs and relay with no success. :( Frustrated as heck, Lanelle

[cheeseral]

Have you tried cleaning the connection and terminals on the back of the gague? I haven't had problems with the temp gague, mine was the fuel gague. I just removed the gague bezel and cleaned all the connections and replaced all the bulbs while I was in there. I used a pencil eraser to clean the flimsy circut board board then cleaned that up with alcohol and a qtip. That took care of my problem. You also might check the temp sender, connections and wires to it.

Good luck

Chuck

[DDLS1]

Lanelle,

I suspect that you have some corroded connections as well. The light problem is most likey a bad ground. Check all your connections with a meter to see if you have power at the light socket. If not, check the fuses, then search for a broken wire. Check the condition of your grounds, clean them up and they should work. If that doesn't do it then consider running a new ground connection.

[C3Vette Lady]

So Chuck,
Do I have to remove the dash or the console or what to get behind the gauges to clean them? Doesn't sound like fun either way....

Thanks,
Lanelle

[cheeseral]

Lanelle,

To get the gauge bezel out isn't too hard, there are four screws you can see on it, 2 at the top, 2 on the sides. Then there are 2 screws that connect it to the shift console, you'll have to remove the carpeted side sections to get to these. When you get these out the gague bezel will come out pretty easy, just be careful at the top, push the dash up so it will clear the light bulb holder on top of the gague bezel or you could rip the the dash right there. Also be careful of your radio wiring, depending on what you have installed you might have to unhook the radio before you take out the bezel but you should be able to get at that from the sides after the carpet sections are gone. I know this probably sounds harder than it is but as far as jobs on the interior go this isn't bad.

While you're in there clean it all up and replace all the bulbs.

Good luck!

Chuck