At 01:45 PM 7/29/2013, Goetz Aust wrote:
>Pressure tank appears full based on color and temperature at top . No
>visible leaks on ground - its raining now. Also the temp gauge flashes 6 or
>10 times before starting and I thought it should only flash 3times.

The gauge is spec'ed to flash for two seconds every time power is
applied, and any time the blinker is triggered.  However as it ages
the timing capacitor gets leaky and causes it to continue longer than
it should.  You can make no inferences about engine situation from this.

Your symptoms don't sound like the typical gauge problem though it's
not impossible.  It's also conceivable it's a controller problem
though again not likely.

As far as the blinking light is concerned, it blinks when it thinks
the engine is overheating, period.  The coolant level controller
tricks the gauge by briefly applying about 35 ohms to ground on the
sender line which will start the light blinking.  The controller does
this more often than every two seconds, so the light keeps on
blinking, but the pulses are very brief so the needle doesn't change much.

If the pressure bottle is actually running normally, it will be
totally full and if you loosen the cap a bit on the hot system you'll
instantly get hot coolant coming around the threads.  I've never been
able to tell the level without taking the cap off or shining a
flashlight into the side of the tank so that it glows internally,
especially as the tank ages.

Yours,
David