Temperature Gauge 53 Manhattan

[sds501]

Anybody have experience with the Temp Gauge on a 53 Manhattan reading just below or in the red zone after about 5 miles of driving ?  It reads in the middle when idling.  The radiator was re-cored about 3 years ago and the water pump replaced per previous owner.  I've replaced the thermostat and cap.  Other gauges read correctly.  Any help would be appreciated.

Steve

[joefrazer]

Either the sending unit is bad or there's a serious circulation issue present. Sending units usually fail and display the temp as very low so I doubt it's the unit.

Try bringing the car to temperature with the rad cap off and using a meat thermometer test the coolant temp. If it is 190 or less, assuming a thermostat is in place, then it could be the unit.

You could have a thermostat stuck partially closed as well. That would allow enough coolant to pass at idle but not at speed.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

A couple of points:

1.  Do you drive with your headlights on?  If so, with the headlights off see if the temp gage drops running it a bit more.  If the temperature drops some, the problem may be the Instrument Cluster Voltage Regulator.  They do go bad and when they do, the temp gage reads false hot as the unit (attached to the back side of the instrument cluster) does not balance voltage and current properly.  It's not a big thing...check out the ELECTRICAL section of the factory shop manual (1951 edition) for more info on this.  I had this kind of problem on both the Business Coupe and the second 1952 4-door deluxe I had.

2.  When was the last time the thermostat was replaced or do you have one at all?  Over time, they to corrode and otherwise wear out and tend to stick closed blocking water flow.  These days, since you don't usually drive the cars in the winter, a thermostat may not be needed in most parts of the country.

[superk226]

The lower radiator hose needs to have a wire coil in it to prevent it from collapsing at road speed. If it does not have a wire coil in it you can make a coil out of 12 gauge copper wire. 

[sds501]

At this point, I am pulling what is left of my hair out, in spite of earlier help from the Club Forum.  I have replaced the thermostat and radiator cap. put a spring in the lower radiator hose replaced the sending unit and replaced the instrument voltage regulator on the back of the dash.  Yet I still have a gauge that reads hot (about a 1/4 inch from the H on the gauge.  According to the 52-53 supplemental manual, Kaiser made a change in the gauge on the 53 between early and late production and if the sending unit and the gauge are not a pair, the gauge reads incorrectly.  I think this is my problem since the car does not appear to be overheating or really running hot.

One of my problems is that this change (a la GM) apparently didn't make it into the parts manual since all vendors list the same sending unit for 51-54 early specials which cannot be true. 

Other than getting an aftermarket gauge system to hang under the dash and ease my nightmarish thoughts of getting stuck with an overheated car does anyone have other ideas?

Thanks in advance for any input

Steve

[joefrazer]

There is a difference in sending units from the 51 to the 54 cars. I'll take a look at my 53 tomorrow...I believe they are marked in such a way to tell them apart.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

1953 Kaiser water temp senders have "240" on the units.  The system is calibrated differently compared to the 1951-52 and 1954-55 set-ups.  Check the Cooling Section, 1952-53 Kaiser Factory Shop Manual Supplement to the 1951 Kaiser and Frazer book.

[84RabbitGTI]

One of those laser temp gauges from a place like Harbor Freight could help you determine if your engine is actually over heating.  They are pretty cheap, and if not dead-on accurate, would indicate if the motor is getting too hot. It could give you peace of mind about overheating.  I used mine to compare two Kaisers, and a 6-cylinder Henry J driving the same speed over the same road at the same time with the temp gauges on the dash indicating different temps.  I found that all three were running the same temp at the same points on the engines and the radiators.  Two of the gauges were wrong. 

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

You did not indicate who you got the sender from.  I have noted that some vendors who carry a lot of jeep parts will offer up the sender that was used on the Willys 226 (same fitting in the block) as more or less a universal replacement.  They know willys and jeep but not K-F in a lot of cases.  Also, these gages were approximates and if you get 5 1953 owners together you will find that each shows different temps but it's still within driving range.