Hi again people.

Hi all.
I have searched the other threads and had no joy.
Picked up my mk1 golf 1983 1.6 diesel last night and drove her home.
Was doing some work on her today and i noticed that the temp guage does not move. The red light comes
on and then goes off as normal but the temp guage does not move. I am not sure when the fan is meant to kick it but i did
not want to let the engine run to long incase of over heating.
I have shorted the fan and it runs.
My question to you all is how long should the car run before the fan kicks in and has any one any pointers as to why my guage is
not moving.
Thank you all in advance.

The fan may not kick in at all, depending on the local temps, but assuming you've been for a drive and your stuck in traffic, on a sunny day, then it should be kicking in.

Temp guage not working can be a few things, but 1st thing to check is the thermistor, which i'm not sure of the location on your model but on mine is the right side of the engine, near the 4 way water housing, could possibly either be disconneted and/or corroded, and is a yellow wire, with (I think) red stripe.

Otherwise check the socket on the back of the dash.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for the prompt reply Mad. I earthed the wire from the thermistor and the guage went to max so the guage is ok. I had another thermistor and fitted that and the guage went right up to max. So as it stands one thermistor gives no reading and one gives max reading. Is suspect i will have to get a new thermistor and start from there.

To be fair its the usual suspect, but just to make sure (I'm not a swap and hope kind of person) you can use an ohmeter (resistance setting) on a test meter and see if the value changes when its warmer/colder (Ice cube? etc) when its disconneted, obviously, or measure the voltage across it when it IS connected.

Hope that helps…

Hi again.
I have ordered a load of service stuff and have also ordered thermistor and fan switch. I will pull out the meter tomorrow and give your tip a shot.
Cheers.

Well my parts came yesterday. Correct temp sender, wron air filter, fuel fulter, diesel filter and fan switch. Typical.
Fitted temp sender (thermistor) and my temp guage now works.
Going to have to take all the stuff back and swap it over.
Today i will be removing the sump to fit a new gasket and i will do a full engine service then it's of to the garage next week to get timing belt and tensioners done. I would attempt it myself but i am not to sure as i have never done timing before and dont want to mess it up.

Alright mate,

Post us some pics of your beauty

Cheers :wink:

I will get some pics posted today my friend.
Today i will be repairing the lights in the dash binacle and fitting an alarm and cd player so will upload them later on.