Temp gauge messed up?

[Lofty]

So when I start my car, the gauge slowly climbs, with the heater running, it only STARTS to blow hot air when the gauge is midway. Then the needle rises up to pretty close to the red, so I turn it off.

With Key on, the temp gauge reads differen't than the car does running after I turned it off, like it's a big difference. Key on says its just about the right temp, with the car running, I look at my gauge and it says it's almost overheating.
I'm thinking about logging it. But I wanted to hear what you had to say.

 

[Colt4G63 also]

You would be logging data from a different sensor. 1Gs have a coolant sensor for the ECU, a seperate one for the gauge, a fan switch in the radiator, and an overheat sensor for the A/C. Not to mention the thermostatic valve for the EGR.

 

[Lofty]

Alright. My car shouldn't go over 220 in this cold, with the fan always running.. right?

 

[Colt4G63 also]

Alright. My car shouldn't go over 220 in this cold, with the fan always running.. right?

No, I wouldn't think so.

 

[Lofty]

Okay, within say.. 10 minutes of running, the in dash gauge is in the red, pocket logger says 160 degrees ferenheit, who do I trust?

 

[Colt4G63 also]

Umm, can you get a third reading?

Otherwise I would say open the cap and run. If you get a geiser of coolant and boiling noises, then you can trust the gauge.

The sensor for the ECU is the one with two spade connectors positioned like this(-l). The one for the gauge should be one spade connector. Check for bad connections.

EDIT: Hey I was kidding about poping the radiator cap off... Are you ok?