Ahhhh!

Enlightenment!!

I love this bunch of Volks!!

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver

Mike S wrote:
> At 03:18 PM 7/5/2008, neil N wrote...
>> Hi all.
>
> Hi Neil.
>
>> Does the voltage stabilizer work in conjunction with the engine
>> coolant temp gauge?
>
> Yes, it provides a constant 10 volts for the gauges.
>
>> i.e. if one took the engine temp gauge out of the cluster, connected
>> it straight to the temp sending unit (sensor) and 12+, would this give
>> an innacurate reading of engine coolant temp?
>
> Yes.
>
>> Like maybe too high?
>
> Yes.
>
> The gauges are bimetallic - they work by heating a special piece of
> metal which bends as it gets warm. There's a heating coil wrapped
> around tha piece of metal. 10 volts from the regulator goes to one end
> of the heating coil, the other is connected to the sensor (fuel, temp).
> The sensors offer a variable resistance. Less resistance causes more
> current to flow, making more heat, bending the metal more, making the
> gauge read higher.
>
> If you bypass the regulator, then you have 12 volts on one end of the
> heater, so more current will flow than is intended, and the gauge will
> read higher than it should.
>
>