Greetings:
Over the past summer I have felt quite smug as many others on the list posted
their travails concerning overheating TRs, perpetual hot running and
excessive gauge temperature readings. My smugness was due to the almost
rock-solid
moderate reading on my gauge. Only in the most uncommon circumstances would the
gauge get much over the lower mid-point. "It's nice," I thought to myself, "not
to have to worry about that overheating malady that so afflicts others. Must
be my good, clean style of living."
Then, while puttering under the hood, I inadvertently jostled the wire
leading to the temperature sender. It fell off, breaking what appeared to be
the
solitary strand holding it in place. And that single strand was weak (and
greenish) from corrosion. After cleaning and stripping back to a fresh section
of the
wire, I securely crimped on a new connector for a fine, low-resistance
connection. And I guess we know what that means.
Presto. Cool running "problem" solved. Now my TR4 also tends to run a wee bit
hot in extended stop-and-go traffic. The gauge shows a more full excursion in
the course of a day's drive. And all is now apparently right in the world.
If I understand the workings of the sender and gauge, the high resistance of
the poor connection at the temperature sender was suppressing the true reading
on the gauge. Now that the connection is sound, I am getting a more accurate
reading and can worry about the same kinds of problems that others have.
The lesson might be that those of you with cool-running TRs should double
check the connections in that circuit. It could be that your sense of
well-being
is slightly misplaced (as mine was).
Bob Sharp
Michigan
64-ish TR4
Check out the new British Cars Forum:
http://www.team.net/the-local/tiki-view_forum.php?forumId=8
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