One problem with the factory temperature gauge on most modern Land Cruisers is that it has a "dead spot" in the middle.  While the motor is anywhere from about 185 to 225 the factory gauge sits exactly in the center of its sweep.   That isn't specific enough for my preference.

One of folks on ih8mud.com has taken the time to figure out how to make the gauge indicate a better range- by changing some resistors.  I'm going to try to duplicate his efforts...  we'll see if I succeed or if I need to buy another gauge.  It'll be one of the other, I imagine.

These are some before pictures:  In taking the gauge apart, I also realized why my oil pressure gauge doesn't work.  It seems to have burned out at some point, probably because of bad grounding on the motor swap.  I'm going to try to repair it as well, can't break it any worse than "not working".  I'm not sure yet, but I wonder if the bent portion in the photo below, with the white wire wrapped around it,  is supposed to be straight.  If so, then something went horribly wrong at some point.

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Update: Wow, it didn't take much time to de-solder the two bits (a zener diode and a resistor) and re-solder on two resistors. The new parts look about like two dark grey sausage-shaped things. Here are some pics of the finished product.  The first picture is before I trimmed the "legs" on the resistor.  The 2nd picture is the final version.

I look forward to assembling it tomorrow to see if it actually reacts to temperature changes now!

Labels: land cruiser, photo, repair