water temp display keeps going back to showing voltage

[gmhowe]

85' keeps flipping back to showing voltage and not water temp, even if I flip the switch to off it keeps showing voltage. It is the 3 position switch on the dash ( up is temp, middle is off and down is voltage), not sure if its the switch or what else it could be. Any thoughts ? and as always thanx in advance. Gordon

 

[DonB]

I'd start with the switch.

 

[hcbph]

I'd start with the switch.

Agree

 

[gmhowe]

Now to find one

 

[gmhowe]

Wonder if I could just reverse the connections, since Water Temp is more important here in the Phoenix area then voltage ?

 

[DonB]

I don't see why not as long as you know what wires to reverse. I'm sure they are in a connector that only fits one way so you'll have to do a bit of splicing. Get a schematic or a FSM.

Maybe another member will post one for you. I have a '90 so I have a different instrument cluster. Good Luck!

 

[gmhowe]

been there done that, got FSM's for both my 85 and 96. Will keep ya all posted
Gordon

 

[Tom1]

85' keeps flipping back to showing voltage and not water temp, even if I flip the switch to off it keeps showing voltage. It is the 3 position switch on the dash ( up is temp, middle is off and down is voltage), not sure if its the switch or what else it could be. Any thoughts ? and as always thanx in advance. Gordon

You may have a problem with your battery voltage. I had this same problem with my 84. I could not understand why it was happening. When I checked my battery voltage it was below the desired level. The system was warning me of this problem by switching to the voltage indicator. This is the same as turning on a warning lamp. I was not monitoring the voltage level but I was monitoring the water temp. It will switch automatically if you have a problem in a display that is not being monitored. This may be explained in the owners manual. If I am wrong let me know.

 

[gmhowe]

Funny you should mention that, I don't drive the 85 daily. Took it out to try and find out where the squeal was coming from the front of the engine, drove a couple of miles parked it on the driveway and went to pick up my grand daughter a couple of hours later and it just gave me the "click, click". Put on the charger and after a few hours went out to try it and low and behold everything was alright, was showing the water temp and tried switching back and forth from temp to voltage and it showed the correct ones. The squeal is from the A/C clutch so now more fun. Voltage showed 10.4 before issue and now it shows 11.5 when running. Will check out the alternator to see if there is an issue there. My 85 has less then 86k mileage and my 96 has over 120k so you can see which is the daily drive car. Thanx again for all the input.

 

[gmhowe]

Also learned about the warning's coming from the switches and not the display, thanx again Gordon