[Westwood's Guinea Pig]

I've only done about 50 miles in my 968 since I collected it, I'm wondering if I have a problem, or if this is normal;



I drove the car, from stone cold, for about 500 yards then stopped to answer a phone call. I switched the engine off, but left the ignition on, after about 2 minutes of chatting I noticed that the temp guage needle was firmly in the red. The engine was stone cold. I finished my call then noticed that it had dropped instantly to well below half-way (ie; where you'd expect the needle to be with a cold engine). I started it up and drive a few miles and the needle crept up to halfway and stayed there. All fine, no other issues, car is like new.



Is it normal for the needle to rocket to the top with a cold engine, ignition on, engine off ? I couldn't find anything about it in the handbook or elsewhere online. I'm not concerned, just curious, is this normal ?



Thanks <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/smile.png" class="smilie" alt="" />

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[tamathumper]

Not normal, but not uncommon either. The grounds, or earths, on the dash panels can get wonky.

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[banditsc]

The two connections on the sensor in the engine are known to get corroded.

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[Darryl]

Yes, there are plenty of things you can check as a DIY, as mentioned above, but the problem is more likely the temp guage itself. I chased this same symptom for quite a while when I first bought my Cab. I also had an intermittant odometer problem and after the third or fourth instrument cluster extraction without a fix, I decided to bite the bullet and send it in for repair. They requested the whole cluster and not just the speedo, so while they had it, I asked them to check the temp guage. Sure enough, there is some sort of reisistor/coil/thermistor component that likes to go bad over time. They replaced it and it's been fine ever since.



- Darryl

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[968Syncro]

My 968 has the same symptom. Very sure it is the resistor/coil on the back of the gauge (like Darryl wrote above). The needle will jump around, going higher at unpredictable times. A light tap with a finger tip will usually (but not always) cause the needle to go back to normal display. Seeing it jump up to near the red zone after just a couple of minutes driving certainly is a good way to increase the heart rate. I have a vague memory that somewhere her on the forum is a more detailed description of the problem (vague memory that flash wrote something about it).

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[Westwood's Guinea Pig]

Thanks for the reassurance, all, I can live with it for now but when it is next due a service I'll get the garage to look at it.



Cheers,



W.G.P.

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[mbardeen]

I had this same symptom, along with a burnt out bulb. I removed the gauge cluster, cleaned the grounds on the back of the instrument cluster and replaced the main bulbs with LEDs from Superbrightleds.com. All seems to be good now, with my voltage gauge and my temp gauge both working better.



This is the guide I followed:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-9...ost7224814

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[ryker]

Mine was pegged, usually. It would bounce down a bit every now and then. Pulled the cluster out just last week and dropped the whole cluster off at North Hollywood Speedometer & Clock Co. $95, back in day, and it works perfectly now.



Edit: I meant to put this under Voltage Regulator! Sorry, long day! A pegged temp gauge would have freaked me out!!!

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[Westwood's Guinea Pig]

Just to wrap this one up, a firm tap on top of the dash returns the gauge to normal, and the fans kick in when they should so it's a gauge problem. I'll either pull the instrument binnacle out and have a look at cleaning it up myself or get the local Porsche specialist to fix it when the next service is due.



Thanks again for the info, Gentlemen.

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[Inkedupfatboy]

I just had the same issue. However, I have a local guy who rebuilt my speedo, trip reset and fixed my H2O temp gauge.

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