E30 Zone

Hello, i have been driving my e30 for some time now but temp gauge (motometer) is always above middle.

Been measuring with a IR and temperatures seem normal, however i would like your opinion.

Gauge is very solid does not shake around.

Changed viscous coupling of the fan, thermostat and did a good cleaning of the system with a air purge with the hot vent on max and front of the car higher than the rear.

Temperatures in Celsius

This one is at the sensor

Hi mate, take out the cluster and tighten up the small brass nuts on both of the gauges .

Mart.

martauto wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 29, 2019 11:58 pm

Hi mate, take out the cluster and tighten up the small brass nuts on both of the gauges .

Mart.

Thanks for the answer read about that but mostly people who solve their problems doing that have ground problems (their gauge flickers) mine is steady, always. Do you thing even without the flickering around it could be the nut? Thanks

Hi Paulo,

You should get a new temp sensor, only problem is that bmw doesnt makes it anymore. I bought one from autodocs, or something like that. Temperatures seem ok from that IR gun... I would bet on that as you´ve changed the other things. Also check the brass nut (but usually it makes the needle float)...

I believe they dont usualy don´t go bad, but on my case it was misbehaving, flickering and giving random readings, sometimes stable, sometimes changing. It was cracked and making bad contact. Bought a new one and it´s done!

If the brass nut is so loose that it makes no contact at all, the gauge will be stable, but over read a bit.
The water temp. sensor on all E30s is of a much lower resistance than the temp. sensor for the ECU, which makes it much less likely to fail electrically, but it can still crack, especially in its exposed position on an M10, where it's likely to get knocked.
The M10 sensor is mounted at the top of the head, where it's likely to find hotter coolant than on other E30 engines, for the same thermostat rating.