Those sensors will last and work a long time if occasionaly pulled out and
cleaned(those 2 metal pins with very fine sandpaper). The old coolant will
also make them fail(blink), time to put in fresh coolant.
Leon
85 Subwagen westy

John Rodgers wrote:

> 99 chances out of a 100 it's not the gage but the sensor in the
> expansion tank. They go bad all the time, but I have never heard of
> anyone haveing to replace the gage in the instrument cluster. That would
> be a real PITA. The sensors are cheap, less that $10 I think, brand new,
> from the Ron Salmon or Ken Wilford, and others. I have had so much
> trouble with them I keep a spare amongst my spare parts in my
> maintenance and emergency road kit. You might want to try replacing the
> sensor unit before doing anything more.
>
> John Rodgers
> 88 GL Driver
>
> > George Averill wrote:
> >
> > I need some ideas for replacing the temperature gage that contains the
> > red blinking light that indicates low water in the water reservoir.
> > This has been an ongoing problem for several years.  Now I am working
> > on it again.
> >
> > In the past, I have replaced the gage with a used one that worked
> > several months then quit.  Then I replaced the gage with one from VW
> > which lasted about six months.
> >
> > My questions are:
> > 1.  What sources are there for replacement gages?  (Does anyone stock
> > them besides the dealer?)
> > 2.  Has anyone built a separate water level gage to bypass the one
> > that came with the vehicle?
> > 3.  Any ideas why the gages keep going bad?
> >
> > Thanks in advance.  If you send a reply to this message, please send
> > it directly to me by e-mail so your reply won't get lost in all of the
> > many messages on the site.  I have a hard time reading all of them.
> >
> > George
> > 84 Camper
> > Columbus, GA
> >
> > P.S.  The rear water heater core is in and working great!  The
> > replacement was a snap; no trouble at all.  Thanks to all who
> > responded with help.