Blinky & Temp Gauge

[VwDubber]

Quick Question.
Noticed that sometimes my Temp Gauge dosent move even after the engine has run many miles and then will suddently come up to the middle of the gauge where it always like to run. Also noticed that my Blinky light is sometimes acting funky. Not sure why, just wondering if it could be the gauge itself or connection in the Dash Cluster, I don't see any other common item?
.

[Timwhy]

All of the above or none of the above! It seems that there isn't a one size fits all for each and every situation.
Maybe try cleaning the temp sensors' connections and adding a little dielectric grease to those connections?
_________________
'15 Audi A3 Quattro
'09 VW Tiguan (dead)
'87 VW Westy
'91 Tin Top
'90 Cabby
What the Westy wants the Westy GETS


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[VwDubber]

Well the problem is getting even stranger. Now my dash lights won't light and when I try to turn the brightness wheel my tach stops, and my oil and high beam lights come on very slightly. If I move the brightness wheel those lights go away but no dash lights.
Gone to take a look at it when I get a chance..

Maybe it's a poor ground etc?
.

[seanjenn]

Yeah..it could be ground related, most of the dash grounds are directly above the fuse panel, pull the panel to get to them. There are two "crowns" up in there.

Take a close look at the big plug on the back of the cluster. All good? Fit nice and tight?

Maybe ignition switch related, doubt it, but maybe. Stranger things have been known to happen with a Vanagon.
_________________
1987 GL Sunroof
2.1 4 spd

[crazyvwvanman]

yes, that is classic behavior of a bad cluster ground.

Mark

[tencentlife]

...or the 14-pin not being seated.
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[crazyvwvanman]

Yep, the cluster ground goes through the 14 pin.

mark

[Drifty84]

The dreaded blinky coolant level sensor has been the most recurring and annoying malfunction I've experienced in the seven or so years I've owned my '84 Westy. I've fixed and re-fixed it at least five times. It's been random and intermittent at times, but the "warning" function, i.e., flashing red light and full hot needle, has been a false alarm every single time. I have fixed it both by cleaning the contacts and replacing the coolant level sensor itself. But it always came back sooner or later.

I believe I FINALLY figured out the root cause of the problem and why it has kept recurring after time. The male contact blades on the coolant level sensor are steel and the female receptacles on the stock wire connector are brass. Not only do ferrous to non-ferrous contacts sometimes create problems such as electrolysis that frequently causes corrosion between the two metals, especially in high humidity environments, but steel and brass have different expansion/contraction characteristics in response to temp changes. This last time I noticed that the false blinky would not occur until the temp reached or approached normal operating range. That reminded me of other times when the warming of an electrical connection caused an open to occur. I surmised, apparently correctly, that the brass female was expanding more than the steel male, causing enough loss of contact between the two to trigger the blinky sequence.

I fixed the problem (I HOPE) simply by mashing the brass female connector slots slightly to make a very tight fit over the male CLS blades and slathering them liberally with dielectric grease. After a weekend of driving, no blinky. I'll repost if I prove myself wrong about all the above. But I'm optimistic right now.
_________________
'84 Westy, 1.9 4 spd.
GW 15" wheel & tire pkg.,
Hella H4 headlight kit,
Vano Shifter fix kit
RMW Stainless Exhaust

[dubbified]

Yo, that sounds like what I need to get on.. Intermittent oil light/temp, bayside wiring is all in order. Course, I've also got some other issues, missing Tach.. no power to rear wiper.. no power to hvac.. presently using a patch connection..

Krikey. I need to get these ironed out.. but this atleast gives me another lead to play with.

[dubbified]

The crazy thing, is I place the van in neutral, switch the van off, then fire it right back up, no buzzer.

Left turn, the buzzer/light go off.

Intermittent blink on temp and temp guage as well..

I need to check them contacts I think.

[Drifty84]

OK, I give up. After my post above just four months ago, Blinky is back. I'm through playing this game. So I jumped the connector plug with a piece of wire and now I have no more Blinky. However, I also have no CLS warning light. But since the CLS Blinky disables the temp gauge (by sending the needle to full hot regardless of actual temp ), I much prefer a full time functioning temp gauge over the Blinky. I check the oil and coolant levels before every drive anyway.

With the CLS circuit hard wired closed, the Blinky test sequence still activates at start-up, as usual. (Although for a shorter period of just 2-3 blinks.) My question is, will Blinky still function as a high temp warning light in the event of an actual over-heating event?
_________________
'84 Westy, 1.9 4 spd.
GW 15" wheel & tire pkg.,
Hella H4 headlight kit,
Vano Shifter fix kit
RMW Stainless Exhaust

[MicahBF]

The blinking light never functions as a high temp warning light, it is only a low coolant warning light wired to the expansion tank.

[Drifty84]

If that's the case, it would seem to make even more sense to disable the CLS completely, since it throws false alarms so regularly as to make it virtually useless for its intended purpose and disables the temp gauge in the process.
_________________
'84 Westy, 1.9 4 spd.
GW 15" wheel & tire pkg.,
Hella H4 headlight kit,
Vano Shifter fix kit
RMW Stainless Exhaust

[AdrianC]

[crazyvwvanman]

False. The temp gauge led is first and foremost a high temp warning led. The coolant level warning system was added later. The led serves both functions in watercooled vans starting in 83. The watercooled vans before that, and I mean diesels from 81 and 82, had only the high temp warning led. The coolant level warning circuit was added to and connects to the same wire that comes from the temp gauge sender. The relay fools the gauge blinker circuit into thinking the engine is too hot. The first version of the relay makes the led blink and makes the needle rise to full hot whenever the relay detects coolant level low in the tank. The later versions of the relay used from mid 85 on makes the led blink when coolant is detected low but lets the needle position reflect the engine temps. Any version of the relay will work in any year but the 85+ versions are best because they let the needle still read engine temp while the coolant warning is triggered. This has been covered in detail here several times, including photos and part numbers of the different versions of the relay.

To disable the coolant level warning system the best way is to remove the coolant level warning relay. The complete system is simple enough to fix that disabling it is foolish but what can you do. This is the internet so foolishness abounds.

Mark