C1 (1960) Testing Temp Gauge and Sender

[Donald H.]

This is probably covered somewhere, but I could not find a description.

My gauges have been restored and I have put them back into the cluster, but the cluster is still out of the car. Rather than put it in and find something wrong, I would like to "bench test" any of the gauges that I can. Following some other threads, I though that I might be able to test the temp gauge according to the diagram I have attached. Will it work?

I'm thinking I can rig something up to hold the sender with the tip in water and not short out the electrical circuit, and heat the water to different temperatures to test the gauge. I realize that this will not verify that the accuracy of the sender. But I could also test the sender with a OHM meter. I have tested the TU5 that I bought at AutoZone, but only at room temperature.

Testing Temp Gauge.jpg

[Thomas H.]

Re: C1 (1960) Testing Temp Gauge and Sender

If you have a Radio Shack store local, you can use one of these:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062356

Connect the center terminal to the gauge wire and either end terminal to ground. Turning the shaft should move the gauge needle. You can then stop at specific indicated temperatures and measure the resistance of the pot to get an idea what resistance input to the gauge correspondes to specific temperature readings. (disconnect the pot before taking any resistance measurements.)

Your hot water trick should work also.

Tom

[Joe R.]

Re: C1 (1960) Testing Temp Gauge and Sender

Don,

Your diagram won't work until you ground the gauge itself to the negative terminal of the battery.

JR