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MG MGB Technical - Temperature sending unit?

O.K. new problem. Temperature is reading almost H. Decided to test the water in the raditor and temp is 170 F.What should I look at first?
Thomas Strombeck

Be sure the wire to the temp sending unit is in good condition and has a good connection (maybe clean the contacts). That's the cheapest and easiest thing to check/fix.
J.G. Reed

Thomas - First of all, what year car do you have? If it is an early (pre 68), the temp gauge/sending unit is one unit. The gauge is a bordon tube gauge with a sealed capalary tube and bulb attached to it. If your car is 68 on then after checking the wire, you may want to take the sending unit out and test it. This can be done by making up a jumper to get the wire to the sending unit while it is suspended in a pan of water on a camp stove next to the car. Suspend the sending unit on a piece of wire attached to the car's ground and start heating the water. Stick a candy thermometer in the pan of water so you can monitor the temp. If you are using plain water, it will only go up to 212°, which may or may not be H on the gauge. If you use the same concentration anti freeze as in your car, then the temp can be run up to whatever the boiling point for the anti-freeze concentration is. If the gauge still reads H at 170° in the pan of water, either the gauge or the sending unit is bad. To check, get a new sending unit and try again (it is the most likely part to fail). If the gauge reads H at 212° or above, then you have a sticking thermostat. Good luck - Dave
David DuBois

Also check the trouble shooting info in the "Electrical Help" section of this forum. The link is on the far left at the top of the first page of the MGB Technical forum. It is chock full of great stuff. Also search the archives for previous threads. The accuracy of the gauge is often questioned. I actually found mine to be fairly accurate.
Andrew Blackley

This thread was discussed on 11/08/2003

MG MGB Technical index

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