Screwy Temp Gauge

Hey guys

I just picked up a 92 Limited, and I've been noticing something strange with the engine temperature gauge. Mostly it's noticeable when sitting in traffic. What happens is that once it's fully warmed up (with the gauge showing 190*), whenever I accelerate from a stop, the gauge will drop down to the far left, then back, and then bounce around the left side of the gauge. Then the other day I noticed that it was stuck at full cold for a few minutes, then went back to normal, then cold again, then bounced a bit, then normal again. My buddy I bought it from said that this had happened to him before and a new thermostat fixed it. Well, the T-stat was put in less than 30K ago, and these don't seem like symptoms of a failing T-stat to me. I'm thinking something electrical - either in the gauge or the sending unit. Any thoughts?

Mike

When you accellerate from a stop, the fan speeds up, thus drawing more air through the radiator, causing the temperature to drop rapidly..... no, huh? Sounds like a loose wire to the temp sensor or elsewhere in the gauge wiring.