Temp Gauge jumps straight to 1/2 even when cold + wtb speedo

[rorz]

hey guys, first post of probably many here (from what i've read of 185s) i just purchased a st185 celica GT4 and it has some strange issues:

1. As soon as you turn the car on, temp gauge jumps straight to halfway, even when it will definately be cold. Checked the plug on sender and seems fine, mechanic seems to think previous owner has wired a resister in somewhere? Dont know why though..

2. Speedo is hugely innacurate, or stops completely. Mechanic says its a seized sender unit, does anyone have one i could buy off them? No wreckers in hamilton currently stock one.

3. Fuel gauge doesn't go less than 1/3 down. But works above that.

Thanks in advance. Congrats on a great forum!

[rollaholic]

sounds more like a bung gauge cluster to me

[rorz]

Mechanic said its not, he seemed pretty certain the speedo drive is seized. Is it possible to recondition these?

He also seems to think the previous owner wired a resistor somewhere on the temp send circuit.

[Dell'Orto]

Yeah the sender seizing is reasonably common...with my one, I just soaked it in CRC and wiggled it with a screwdriver for a while and it came right.

[rorz]

sweet i'll give that a go, cheers. any ideas about the other problems?

[Bradles]

my temp guage used to do the same, turned out the sender wasnt earthed properly.. jsut somethign to check.

[BZG Wagon]

Yeah the sender seizing is reasonably common...with my one, I just soaked it in CRC and wiggled it with a screwdriver for a while and it came right.

My prelude cable had actually frayed on the inside. Seen it a few times & generally means replacement. But definately try the CRC thing first. Mine ran marginally better for a few months after a soaking.

[Dell'Orto]

I dont know if the Celicas are the same, but the MR2's have like an L shaped adapter that the cable screws into, that bolts onto the drive in the box, thats what seized on mine.

[Boosted_162]

I dont know if the Celicas are the same, but the MR2's have like an L shaped adapter that the cable screws into, that bolts onto the drive in the box, thats what seized on mine.

ST185 Celicas has an electronic speedo sender. And ive known of a few to break causing speedo to act funny.

[rorz]

Sweet well im going to try the CRC thing i'll let you know how it goes, as for the Temp gauge, i got an aftermarket one instead becuase i figured that would bypass the factory wiring and cant go wrong, but turns out the Autogauge sender unit that came with it has a smaller thread than my current one? What should i do?

[xsspeed]

Autogauge

Is your problem

[themaleman]

i had same guage problem, i finally changed the gauge cluster and it fixed it!