val73 Posted August 19, 2010 Share Posted August 19, 2010 About a year ago, my temperature gauge spiked to the max while I was driving home from work (a 90-mile round-trip at that time), so, obviously, I immediately pulled off, allowed my engine to cool and had her towed into the shop. They tested it and couldn't get it to do it again. All systems looked fine. The next day, roughly ten minutes into my drive, it did it again -- a really fast spike from normal temp to max. I was getting ready to pull off the road when it suddenly dropped back down to normal, so I kept going, albeit at a much slower speed. The gauge bounced around like mad for about 5 minutes, then settled down back to a constant normal. Took her back in, this time to a different shop (not my regular place) located near my work, since that was closest and I didn't want to push it. It did it for them, but they said the engine was not overheating (they used some kind of heat-sensing device to check). Okay, so... more than a year and two more mechanics later, no one has been able to figure out the problem. This still makes me nervous, though there seems to be no effect on performance (that I can tell). These days, it seems to pop up after ten minutes of driving and stay there from 5-20 minutes and then the sudden drop (less than a half-second) down to normal, where it will stay until I turn off the engine. The pattern repeats, no matter how long the engine has been off. Sorry for the long post, but... any thoughts? I'm running out of mechanics to bring the ol' girl in to! I've also replaced 9-10 wheel bearings, but that's something I've just resigned myself to with this car (again, several very reputable mechanics unable to get my wheel bearings to stop failing. Sigh.). I still love my Subaru!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeneralDisorder Posted August 19, 2010 Share Posted August 19, 2010 Have Legacy wheel bearings installed. And find someone that is skilled in the ways of bearings in general. Most auto mechanics do not treat them with the care and precision they require. Sounds electrical with your guage problems. Always best to have weird electrical gremlins checked by the dealership. The gauge is designed as a resistance meter. If you get a dead short in the wiring the gauge will indicate full hot. Sounds like a simple short and your "mechanics" are not willing to tackle it. If it were me I would probably just run a new wire from the dash harness to the guage sender. It's a single wire device - pretty damn simple. GD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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