My '82 Silverado has the voltmeter, oil pressure, water temp, and clock to the left of the Speedo. The oil pressure gauge works (granted, it's either 0, 40 or 80...not much inbetween!) but both the voltmeter and water temp gauges are broken.

I replaced the oil pressure sender and the drivers' side forward temperature sensor (bolts into the block below the head, underneath the A/C compressor...connects to a green wire) and now the oil press gauge has a more reasonable range of needle motion. However, the water temp gauge is still pegged at over 240 degrees.

In addition, the voltmeter never moves. What gives with the voltmeter and water temp gauge? Are there any other sensors or connections I need to look at?

the water temp sensor is on the left side just below #3 cylinder. It sounds like it's unplugged.

It sounds like (the wiring going to) the temperature gauge is shorted out somewhere, like the wire from the sending unit has a direct connection to ground. Mine is disconnected from the temp sender because I've got the mechanical gauge, and the hand is all the way to the left on the gauge.

Does the hand on your temp gauge move from left to right when you turn on the ignition and back when you turn it off?

both the voltmeter and water temp gauges are broken.

You didn't drive it all the way from FL to OH that way?:eek:

Actually I fixed my temp gauge shortly after I bought the truck, the dial was jumping all over the scale. Cleaned and tightened the connector at the sending unit only to discover that the truck was overheating on the freeway in the summer temps. Scared me that there might be serious damage, but four or five years later I've yet to see it:o:

If both the voltmeter and temp are faulty I'd suspect a connection behind the cluster as opposed to inside the engine compartment.

The instrument panel electric connection can oxidize over time changing the values the instruments read. Carefully pulling the connector on and off several times will refresh the connector faces. Also the ground under the dash can become oxidized. On some models it is located on the upper left kick panel.

I did actually drive it all the way from FL to OH this way. :rolleyes:

I will check all the connections again...because I'm sure I missed something. Thanks for the replies!

my oil pressure gauge on my 82 spikes from time to time...seems that when i'm driving it likes to read 20 or so psi and when i stop at a light or for something else it goes up to around 60psi...i know my pressure doesn't triple going from 1500rpms to 650rpms...could that just be a wiring issue, like a poor connection at the sensor?

An electric gauge pegging is as Lee said, grounding somewhere and shorting.

My gasser, the temp gauge occasionally doesn't work because the connector on the sensor is just dirty, if I move the wire a little on the connection it contacts and works again - but when it loses contact, it just drops down to the 100' (low) mark. Can't think they work any different on the 6.2, so the first thing I'd do is unplug the sensor and see what that changes, if anything.

my oil pressure gauge on my 82 spikes from time to time...seems that when i'm driving it likes to read 20 or so psi and when i stop at a light or for something else it goes up to around 60psi...i know my pressure doesn't triple going from 1500rpms to 650rpms...could that just be a wiring issue, like a poor connection at the sensor?

Funny you should mention that: I had a '91 S-10 2.8L before I got the beast, and the oil pressure gauge acted the same way. I 'temped' wiring to it & no change, then went and replaced the oil press sender, problem solved!

The very next day after my previous post in this thread, my oil pressure gauge in the beast is acting the same way!!! I'm not as worried about this as I was the temp gauge b/c first of all, it still drops to zero when the engine stops, and second, it only gets squirrelly right off of idle. But when I get a free moment I'm gonna replace the sensor.

So now I got the Water TEMP sensor (not the coolant level sensor I replaced under the A/C compressor last week) but I can't see where it goes. It looks like a brass plug but with a Coaxial Cable receiver on the electronic connection side...