Just to follow up on this:
When I changed out the locally purchased aftermarket gauge sender with a
Meyle brand sender, my gauge went back to reading exactly as before.  I
guess this is a warning to stay away from the aftermarket senders!

-Wes
'83 1.9l

On Sun, May 4, 2008 at 3:44 PM, pickle vanagon <greenvanagon@gmail.com>
wrote:

> After putting everything back together after my head-job gone wild,
> everything is great except that the temperature gauge reads warmer than
> before (yes I bled the system).  Before it sat just on the right edge of the
> LED.  Now it sits 3/4 of the way up the gauge,  a full half way between the
> LED and the far right side.
>
> When I was putting everything back together, I cleaned all wires and
> grounds I encounted and replaced the gauge sensor (along with the TEMP 2
> sensor) in the thermostat housing.  I believe that my van is running at
> normal temperature and that the cleaned up wires/new sensor is responsible.
>
> The new sensor is not from a list vendor.  I got it on a whim at a FLAPS
> while picking up some other stuff.  It is aftermarket and comes in a red box
> with the brand name "standard" on the box.
>
> I picked up an infrared temp gun today from autozone ($19.99 !!) and
> measured hoses/etc.  After lots of driving, with the needle at 3/4 the way
> up the gauge, I get 185-195 at the hose coming out of the thermostat
> housing, and 200-205 at the crossover pipe that goes from the passenger side
> head into the thermostat housing, and on the thermostat housing itself.
> The temperature of the radiator return hose going into the thermostat is
> much lower, say 120.  This seems to me to indicate that the thermostat is
> mostly closed, which should make sense since it only starts to open at
> 190.   (These temperatures are maximums; also this is a 1.9l where the
> thermostat housing is bolted to the water pump.)  The temperature is very
> steady making it seem like it is being effectively maintained by the
> thermostat.  If I drive with the heater on full blast, and let everything
> stabilize, the temperatures are only affected by 5 degrees or so (they end
> up at the bottom of the ranges rather than the top).
>
> Two questions:
> 1. Do these temperatures seem okay to people?  For as many posts as there
> are in the archives talking about the use of infrared temperature guns, I
> couldn't find any which list accept temperature ranges.  What do other
> people find at these points in their 1.9l (with standard thermostats)?
>
> 2. If my cooling system is functioning and these numbers are good, what can
> I do to fix the gauge?  If I leave it as is, there is less effective
> resolution at the hot end of the scale, where it matters.  Will the sensor I
> get from VW or a list vendor be better than the aftermarket one I got?  I
> found some reference in the archives to the fact that VW changed the spec on
> this sensor, which causes this problem when the new sensors are installed in
> the old vans.  Unfortunately, I can't find my old sensor now... maybe I
> threw it away.  But in any case it was not in great shape.  I've heard of
> people modding the new sensors by adding a resistor.  Is this a good
> solution?
>
> thanks very much!
> -Wes
> '83 1.9l westy
>
>
>