quote:Originally posted by 4NHOTROD:
I aquired my new car some time ago in the spring. i noticed that the temp was getting on the high side and noticed that the coolant was low. Note: the car had sat for 4 years. I noticed that the rad had a tiny leak and the water pump was leaking ever so slightly from the front seal. So, I replaced the pump with a weiand and recored the rad and installed twin electric suckers and put in a new 180 stat. That should take care of it, right? F#$K no.
I drove for a couple hundred miles with the temp guage never exceeding 195 deg.
Even during the Niagara rally, when everyone else saw their temps rising on the hot Saturday evening, my guage stayed at 190. On my ride home on the hiway, cruising at a mere 2300 rpm, the guage started to cycle from 180 to 200, then 180 to 210 and so forth until it nearly touched red.
It has been doing this ever since.
Notes:
It will stay at 180-190 at idle in the garage.
I've jacked the back up 3 times and it has run like that for more than 2 hours while I revved it up (pissing off the neighbours)
I can't get it to red in the garage, it'll only go to about 210
The pass head is hotter by 18 deg over the driver's side when temp taken from the rear with IR gun.
The stat has been changed twice. It seems to be opening when it's suppose to, but reaches temps it shouldn't.
Help.
Will
The first problem with the stock gauge is that it is not matched to the sending unit. Ford used a resister to correct the problem, which makes it about right at around 190 degrees. From what you are describing here, it sounds like you have a connection problem and a grounding problem. Very common in a Pantera given the fine Lucas type electrical system that they have. The I/R gun will tell you what is happening, but if you really want to know what your true temperature and oil pressure is, you need a matched gauge and sending unit. There is a company in New Mexico that can take the Veglia gauges and install VDO internals and a matched sending unit. This will make the gauges read correctly and still maintain the original look of the gauge set. My friend just did this with his car and the set up works great. I got away from the original Veglia gauges years ago because they will never give you an accurate indication of the oil pressure or water temperature. Running all of the power through the amp gauge is a little questionable also.