Funny Temp Gauage

[TAN]

When the weather is 20 plus or colder the temp gauage will climb as high as it will go. All the way into the red. after 5 minites or less if I shut the motor off and restart it it goes back to normal. If the weather is abouve 20 plus it works great. It has done this since new. It has never been an issuse as most of the time it is abouve 20 plus when we are using it. It is a 2005 Atasca 29R on a workhorse.

[TAN]

When the weather is 20 plus or colder the temp gauage will climb as high as it will go. All the way into the red. after 5 minites or less if I shut the motor off and restart it it goes back to normal. If the weather is abouve 20 plus it works great. It has done this since new. It has never been an issuse as most of the time it is abouve 20 plus when we are using it. It is a 2005 Atasca 29R on a workhorse.

[max49]

Mine did that only once and it was bitter cold. Probably zero or below. But mine did'nt stop in the red, it went past the red and off the scale. Was on my way to the svc cntr and left it running so they could see it, they did but they did'nt do any thing about it. It went back to normal after turning it off and restarting. I think we just have a wierd instrument panel, with plenty of glitches. WH would be better off to find a different IP mfgr IMO

[TAN]

Thanks Max, Yes mine goes off the scale too. As it is not a big thing I have not told Workhorse. Workhorse has been excellent with the warranty so far. Unlike Winnebago. Getting warranty out of them is like pulling teeth.

[knebrdr]

There is a possibility that this problem is thermostat related. The manufacturers run these engine as hot as possible, usually a 95 celsius degree plus thermo, to help clean up the tailpipe emmissions. In extremely cold weather the radiator stays "cold" and this keeps the radiator side of the thermo cold causing it to not open or open later than it should. When you shut the engine off the heat soak that occurs causes the thermo to open.
I know this because my then new 1981 VW diesel would do this on a 40 degree Ca. morning or after coming down a long grade (Eisenhower Tunnel for example). I cured the problem by installing a cooler thermo, soming the dealer could not do because of emmissions law.
Do not write this off as a cluster problem! The engine may be overheating. You can test this theory by covering your radiator openings and seeing if the engine does or does not overheat.
Cover openings, start engine, observe gauge, listen for fan clutch to engage, uncover openings. If you have a scan gauge or actual temp gauge you will see the temp start to drop immedately after you uncover the rad openings if the thermostat is open. At no time allow the engine to overheat.
Randy

[JimAerbus,W22,2003]

From what I understand Workhorse has a 38 ohm resister installed in the guage so that it always reads low, like around 160 or so. I know mine does. That was done because when true running temp was shown, arond 210f, people were changing thermostats and driving GM nuts, because old time "religon" was 180 or so. This may have something to do with guage acting funny in extreme cold. I installed Mechanical guages and try not to even look at the factory guage. Its off by at least 30 degrees. Jim

[Clay L]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by JimAerbus,W22,2003:
From what I understand Workhorse has a 38 ohm resister installed in the guage so that it always reads low, like around 160 or so. I know mine does. That was done because when true running temp was shown, arond 210f, people were changing thermostats and driving GM nuts, because old time "religon" was 180 or so. This may have something to do with guage acting funny in extreme cold. I installed Mechanical guages and try not to even look at the factory guage. Its off by at least 30 degrees. Jim </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

No resistor in the gauge in the Actia instrument panel that Workhorse uses, but the gauge is basically an idiot light. It won't change from about the 1/2 mark until the temp reaches a preset temperature and then will go high all at once. They did that for the reason you mentioned.

The Actia instrument panel gets it's info from the OBD bus and uses that info to run the gauges.