Cold engine-pegged temp gauge
 

2001 ZR2.


My temp gauge was working fine one day and today I noticed, after monkeying with air bag sensors, connectors, and disconnecting the battery, the temperature gauge is pegged at the 5 o'clock position. Is it shorted some how? Can't be the needle fell off as it would be at 7 o'clock. Where to start?

Most likely it's a shorted wire or an open circuit.

I'm just going off the top of my head, but I think the gauge being pegged would indicate a short. Any chance you pinched a wire working on the other systems?

On the other hand I could have it completely opposite, and the gauge being pegged shows infinite resistance (open circuit) which would indicate a broken wire or an unplugged connector.

Had my dash all opened up for HVAC work and a new radio but that was a few months ago. Was working fine until just the other day. Been messing with intermittent ABS light coming on but nothing that would have disturbed the temp gauge...

Located the temp sensor and tried jumping it with no result. Cleaned the connections and again nothing changed. Then I decided to beat on the dash and it jumped back to normal again. I guess a combination of the last two did the trick...

That suggests there's a loose connection, a broken wire, or pinched wire behind the dash. I hope you don't have any more problems with it.