Okay, so my recently acquired $700 beater is treating me well so far. After a few days of city driving, I've got used to the the combination of a new clutch kit/cable with a floppy pedal and a totally worn out shifter. I also managed to get the instrument lights and blower motor back up and running.

That said, I'm still having some problems with the temperature gauge reading. (Or lack thereof in this case.) I took a multimeter to the sender when the car was almost, but not completely cool and got an average reading of 1800 ohms, which sounds about right according to the Haynes manual. The reading was a little jumpy though. After letting the car warm up, I got of average reading of about 75 ohms. Again jumpy. If the sender is correct, then the old brick is definitely running hotter than it should since the books calls for a reading of around 200-250 ohms at normal operating temperature.

Who knows when this thing last had its thermostat replaced, so I'm going to start there. Plus, it's a cheap part, so I figure it can't hurt. But my real concern is the lack of readout on the gauge. I'm a little confused as to how I should test the gauge itself. I know that there's a way to safely test it, but I don't want to fry the board since the older style dash/instrument components are a real PITA to find in my neck of the woods.

Anyone got any advice of troubleshooting these old pre-compensation board temp rigs? I could really use a little expert input here. Even links to older threads on the subject would be great. I know there must be some on the board, but I can't seem find any that don't relate to the newer models.
Thanks.

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1980 244 DL
1984.5 242 Turbo ... Sold to a better home :(