[b]My water temp gauge in 65 Valiant 225/6 just quit...I thought I would start at the sensor in the block and check it out first, Can anyone tell me what the resistance range is for it when operating cold and hot running temp.
I will also check all the connections on the circuit board but all other gauges are working normally ( Gas and Alternator ) [/b]

For a quick test, have someone watch the gauge while the key is on, then ground the sender wire, but only for a second or two. If the gauge starts to rise, the sender is bad. If the gauge don't move start looking for wiring problems.

TopHat

all chrysler sensors are 80-10 ohms. (meaning, high resistance when cold, empty or low oil pressure and viceversa). Acceptable variables are 10-70, 5-70, 5-80 depending on how loose manufacturer's tolerances are.

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Juan Ignacio Caino

Please use e-mail button istead of PM'ing. I do log in sometimes but I'll be answering quicker thru e-mail.

H'mmm. You sure about that? I ask because the resistance range of the temp sensor changed between '63 and '64; I don't remember whether it went up or down, but using an early sender w/late gauge or a late sender w/early gauge makes the gauge read improperly (too high or too low, can't recall which combo yields which result).

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Thanks for the replies.

That resistance range seems about right from what little
memory I have left !

Will use my resistance decade substitution box
to verify if the sensor quit working
or there is a lose wire or connection on its
way over to the gauge.

Thanks

Dennis V
San Diego
65 Valiant 100 ( 325,000 miles )

OK, here we go—

The early ('60-'63) senders have 13.5 - 15.5 Ω resistance at 220°F.
The '64-up senders have 15 - 19 Ω resistance at 220°F.

These year ranges are for North American production — other countries' cars may differ depending on local content and local specs.

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

OK basically we're talking about 0-80 units for early production run and 10-70 or 10-75 for later ones. Using a later sender on an early car would result in lower readings for the same temperature wich ain't a risk per se, if you know what you're doing and how's your cooling system working. The cont to that is that if your sender is designed to work with 0 ohms max reading and you use a 5 or 10 ohms sender, your instrument will never peg.

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Juan Ignacio Caino

Please use e-mail button istead of PM'ing. I do log in sometimes but I'll be answering quicker thru e-mail.

I don't understand the "units" you mention.
True. In fact there was a TSB for '60 big cars, related to customer complaints of engine overheating. The fix was to put a resistor of specified value in the temp sender wire and tape it securely. For any given engine temperature, this trick lowered the gauge reading. Sneaky. And then in the mid '70s when they started using 195°F thermostats instead of 180°F, they recalibrated the gauges so that a middle-normal reading was produced with a hotter coolant temp than before.
A perfect preventive against catastrophic overheating! Maybe not...

(Whaddya mean, "out of money"?! I still have cheques left in my chequebook!)

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一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

unit = temp sender. Mistranslation.

_________________
Juan Ignacio Caino

Please use e-mail button istead of PM'ing. I do log in sometimes but I'll be answering quicker thru e-mail.