L320 Temp. Guage

[KFunk740]

OK, my temp guage has a tiny red line at the top by the 'H', and a small gray band at the bottom by the 'C.'

 

When I first turn on my truck, when its obviously ice cold, the guage goes immediately to the top, then as its getting warmed up, it goes down by the C. Then it stays in the small gray band at the bottom for my entire drive. It's nowhere near the center. I've only seen it creep up just a bit into the black during stop and go traffic on a really hot day. Now that the weather is cold, it stays near the bottom of the gray band almost all the time...

The engine feels like its running warm/hot after driving a while, the heater works just fine (not roasting, but good heat), etc. It doesn't act like its overheating, and it's never lost coolant.

 

So, 1) when I first turn it on cold, the temp guage goes the opposite of what it should. Is this just some weird nature of the sensor itself, and that the electrical circuit needs 'warmed up' before it starts reading correctly?

 

And 2) Should the temp stay in the middle like most cars, or should it stay down in that gray band? I haven't checked to see if the t-stat is still in this truck, but it doesn't act like it's running too cold.

[datsunaholic]

Is your 320 converted to negative ground?

[KFunk740]

Is your 320 converted to negative ground?

 

Why yes, it is. J13 with negative ground. So the temp guage was built for positive ground, I take it?

 

I'm not sure how that affects things... as it's not completely opposite. Surely I haven't been running it at red hot for the past 3300 miles since I got it in June.. :blink: