12 replies to this topic

[Purple Tom]

Hi

Does anyone know what colour the wire should be for the temperature sender unit on a 1990 Cooper? The temperature gauge on the car never worked in the whole time the previous owner had it, and I've found a wire hanging, just wanted to make sure i've got the right one!

Oh, and the problem with gear selection was the rod change housing, I've fitted a new one, with a KAD Quickshift and its all working fine now. Thanks for all your help.

Tom

[Bungle]

I'V got a 1990 cooper i will look later and let you know .

[Boab]

Easy, try it out. If the temp gauge moves then you hve the wire if not, keep on looking :grin:

[Bungle]

Right just been up the road to the garage , the wire to the temp sender is bottle green and light blue .

hope this helps

[Jammy]

...up the road to the garage.....

wow, how big is your house/estate if you go up the road to your garage?!

[jimbo_edmondo]

lol

[Bungle]

the garage is in the next street

I bought a garage about 5 years before i left home and bought a house

[Purple Tom]

Easy, try it out. If the temp gauge moves then you hve the wire if not, keep on looking

I would have done that, but its had a temperature sender for an aftermarket TIM capillary temp gauge fitted and blocked, and never used. I've ordered a sender from Minispares but it arrived today while I was at work, so I just wanted to check I had the right wire.

ight just been up the road to the garage , the wire to the temp sender is bottle green and light blue

Wicked, thank you, thats the right one!

[Purple Tom]

Cool, we just earth tested the temperature gauge and it works fine!

I was slightly worried as whoever rebuilt the car and put the MG Metro engine in didn't seem to know what the temperature gauge wire did and plugged it into a spare connection on the starter solenoid!?!!? I found this strange and worrying as I thought a constant 12-14V live feed into a temperature gauge can't be a good thing. Luckily it doesn't seem to have affected it, so now I can see what temperature its running at.

[Dan]

Keep an eye on how accurate your gauges are now as that could have damaged the voltage stabiliser.

[Purple Tom]

yeah I've been looking into that tonight Dan. The fuel gauge seems pretty accurate, after dipping the tank it seems to read ok. We connected an external tacho and tested the accuracy of the dash mounted tacho, that was ok. So now I've just got to take the car for a drive to test the temp gauge. I let it tick over for a few minutes tonight after fitting the new exhaust and it at least moved, so we shall see.

[Cir-clipalot]

the gauges may read about right but bear in mind if the voltage stabilizer is knackered they will read a bit or a lot high or low depending on the voltage in the system, ie how much the alternator is putting out?! So they may be OK on a test run but not good for long term use. I think thats right. They are a weak spot on mantas and mine has got thru 2 in the last 6 months. eg fuel+temp gauge would often rise proportionately to engine revs OR just not work.

[Purple Tom]

yeah have been talking about that with dad. Like I said it seems to be ok, it doesn't rise or fall with revs, so it shows that the regulator is stabilizing the voltage at the moment. But its true it might not be reliable over time. So I will keep my eye on it and see how it goes!

Thanks for all the advice everyone! :grin: