Blinking temp light does not work

[childofthewind]

Morning! So, flashing coolant light not working as of this morning. It flashed a few random times while driving this morning which had me pulling over. Coolant level was perfect in both tanks.

The temp gauge works (and is reading normal) it's just the blinking light that's quit. No flashing upon starting, no flashing ever now.

Sorry if this is a redundant thread; feel free to redirect me.

Thanks!
_________________
1987.5 wolfsburg hardtop; 2.1

“As for me, I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote." - Melville

[Ahwahnee]

When mine was blinking 24/7 thousands of miles from home I just loosened the little nut that holds the plastic foil right behind it and it went completely out.

So, in your situation, you might check to make sure that nut is snug.

[childofthewind]

Thanks, Ahwahnee, I forgot to mention that I had explored the foil and connections behind that gauge, all was tightened & normal.

Hmm..
_________________
1987.5 wolfsburg hardtop; 2.1

“As for me, I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote." - Melville

[Ahwahnee]

In that case, I would pull the connector off the sensor on the tank and see if that causes it to blink (it should).

If it does blink with that then the problem would seem to be a shorted sensor (though I have never heard of this, usually they fail by being open even when immersed).

If it still does not blink that would suggest a short somewhere else (perhaps).

[childofthewind]

Unplugged the sensor, still no blink. Dumb question but can the bulb itself fail?
_________________
1987.5 wolfsburg hardtop; 2.1

“As for me, I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote." - Melville

[crazyvwvanman]

The temp gauge led should blink at least a few times every time you turn on the key. If it doesn't then it can't be because of anything in the engine compartment. It must be something up front, probably in the dash, most likely in the cluster.

As usual it is possibly a ground issue. The blinking led in the temp gauge uses a ground path in the cluster that the gauge needle doesn't use. When that ground path gets weak the led can flash when it shouldn't. When the ground path goes away completely the led can't flash at all. The needle will still work in either case.

Check those 3 nuts again, one of them is part of this ground. I would remove them, clean things, and put back.

Sure, the red led could itself fail but that is pretty rare. The led is part of a tiny circuit board inside the gauge and other parts on it can fail too. Either way you would pretty much need a different gauge unless electronic surgery is something you are familiar with.

Does everything else in the cluster work correctly now?

Mark

[t3 kopf]

The ground stud on the back of the gauge should show 0 ohms between the stud and the chassis, correct?
_________________
'90 Carat w/ '95 phase 1 EJ22 OBD2 conversion

[the craigness]

mine does this every morning coupled with the temp needle going all the way off the scale until about 30 seconds to a minute of running then it goes to normal. I'm suspecting a bad ground behind the dash. Anyone else have an idea?

[childofthewind]

I took out the instrument cluster today, tightened the nuts behind the gauges and voila, it's flashing normally again. (between when I initially posted this and now the flashing came back but wouldn't go away, this time. Now it's flashing just for a few seconds right after starting, like it should!)

Next up is draining my tranny fluid to see how things are looking...
_________________
1987.5 wolfsburg hardtop; 2.1

“As for me, I am tormented with an everlasting itch for things remote." - Melville