Nah..your far away from where the issue actually is:

Look underneath the area of the rad.cap and you'll see a small sensor to the right with a wire attached. That is the temp gauge sending unit. Either that wire connector has come off that sending unit, is loose, or the tang on the sending unit is also loose (which mine was and resoldered it back on for my gauge to work..) and needs either to be resoldered back on, or replace the sending unit.

The sending unit at the bottom of the radiator is what makes the fan run when coolant gets too hot.

-DSM

DSM1G90 is likely correct your 1g has 4 different temp sensors that do 4 differnt things

That isn't your coolant temperature switch, its the A/C thermoswitch. Its only purpose is to shut off your A/C if the engine starts to over heat. Check out this picture for what is what on a 1g tb. Hope you find this helpful!

The one that controls the factory gauge is the one on the bottom right that has a single wire going to it.

I actually just had the wires break out of the connector and I can't fix it unless I put connectors on the wire but this http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c387/wangbojy925/sensorpics001.jpg is for the AC turn off? So if I don't have AC anymore then it really doesn't matter right?

If you are referring to number 6 (your link didn't work for me), then it won't matter if you no longer have A/C.

bertrenolds said:

I actually just had the wires break out of the connector and I can't fix it unless I put connectors on the wire but this http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c387/wangbojy925/sensorpics001.jpg is for the AC turn off? So if I don't have AC anymore then it really doesn't matter right?

Click to expand...

The link worked for me. Yes, that is the A/C thermoswitch and yes, without AC you do not need it.

Sorry for reviving an old thread, but I am a little confused about my coolant gauge. It seems to only have two settings, medium-ish temps or off. when the car is off the gauge is all the way down, the second I start the car it goes to the medium-ish location and stays there no matter how hard I run the car. It doesn't slowly creep up as the car warms up either it just jumps straight to the location about halfway up on the gauge.

Referring to post #6 (which by the way is an awesome piece of information), I believe that I need a new water temperature gauge unit (4) but I wanted to get a second opinion before I make the purchase. My car is a 2G GST, I know the thread is for a 1G but I do not believe that matters but the info is there if it makes a difference.

Thanks in advance.

Logic would suggest that is the culprit, yes. But you may check the wiring running to the sensor as it may have become brittle over the years. In any case, it's a $15 sensor; it won't break the bank replacing it.

Also, for a 2G turbo car:

You can test the wiring and the sensor by simply grounding the wire that goes to the temp gauge sensor to a spot on the engine.

If the wiring and the temp gauge themselves are both in good working order, the gauge should read full hot. At that point, you can clean the temp sensor connection and try it again. If that doesn't solve the issue, replace the sensor as it is bad.