Autometer water temp gauge issue

[sberrett]

I’ve been battling what i thought was an overheating issue for awhile now on my 94 and finally discovered that the stock temp gauge just wasnt reading right. It was off by about +10 degrees making me read things as being hotter than they were. I decided to install an autometer digital gauge which was pretty simple.

I opted to not drill and tap the engine block and instead installed a t connector. I removed the temp sending unit, screwed in the t adapter, screwed the sending unit back in and connected the auto meter probe/sensor.

Fired the jeep up and drove it around to get up to operating temp. I used a temp gun on the thermostat housing which read 202, and checked the adapter I installed on the block and it read 204. Checking the new gauge though it was reading 175. So it definitely off by a bit.

I feel that the t adapter is giving both the sending unit and the autometer sensor some standoff room from the block and is the reason it’s reading cooler.

Is there something I can do to get a more accurate reading? Did I do the install wrong?

 

[Unclewolverine]

You have no flow over the probes doing it that way. You either have to buy the thermostat housing with the extra bung drilled and tapped or you have to make an adapter to put it in the heater line. Either way, the gauge temperature probe in your 94 is in the back of the head, try a different probe. I just put in an oreillys cheapo and it's accurate.