Alright guys, please read this and anyone who has some good advice please speak up :)
So two nights ago Im driving to the grocery store, suddenly an alarm starts beeping from under my dash (something I have never heard from either of my TGP's) I look down to check my gauges and I watch my coolant temperature skyrocket from about 150 all the way to 260!!! And the needle stayed pinned at the 260 mark, i pulled over right away, but didnt have any of my tools with me and it was to late to go anywhere for parts, so i leave the car there, today I go back, swap out the thermostat and make sure the coolant system is completely full, with a temperature sensor I let the car idle for about 15 min, and made sure the temperatures were correct, which the were, i checked the temps on both the upper and lower radiator hoses. So i decide to drive home, BAD IDEA, I get back on the road and the car starts sputtering really bad, my guages are bouncing all over and my interior lights go out completely... and then the car dies. When i try to re-start the car wont even crank, 10 min later it starts fine and I manage to get it home before it dies again as im pulling into my parking lot... so im assuming my temp sensor sending unit could be bad??? But would a little sensor thats bad cause all these problems??? Its honestly really bad, the car is not driveable by any means... please help...... thanks....
The actual temperature sending unit for the dash has nothing to do with driveability Dane, so that's not your problem. All it does is report the coolant temperature to the instrument panel gauge. The engine coolant temperature sensor below the thermostat housing area is the one that the ECM uses. If you have a multimeter, check the voltage at the battery with the car running to see if your alternator is charging . With your description of the gauges bouncing around everywhere, that leads me to believe you have an electrical issue. Besides checking the voltage, check to see if the auxillary positive battery terminal post is tightened securely. The nut backs off on them from time to time. It's located right in front of the driver's side strut tower as you probably already know. If it's not tight, it will cause all sorts of random issues.
By the way, what did you check the temperature with? An infrared thermometer?
Also look at the larger wire coming off the alternator. I ha the same issue you are describing and I found that the wire was barely connected to the terminal post on the back of the alternator. MAKE SURE YOU DISCONNECT THE NEGATIVE BATTERY TERMINAL FIRST!! I made a little boo boo there when I found it. :icon_redface:
I have to agree with Matt and Kenny sounds to me like the alternator problem
OK so here is the update... I did this before I read your guys' post.... I got home and swapped out the sending unit on the back of the thermostat, and finally the needle goes back down... I also checked all the grounds for the battery and the connections on the battery looked good as well, so i take it for a spin, and the sputtering and all that has gone away, the car drives 100% normal, BUT its still heating up really fast and not regulating coolant temp like it should :( AND the most annoying thing is that the stupid alarm is still going off! and my HUD still says "check gauges"... now, this only happens when the lights are on!? if i turn the lights off, the beeping goes away, but the check gauges still stays lit??? And by the way its the same alarm that beeps if you were to leave your lights on and exit the vehicle... so im kinda confused here guys.... any new suggestions with the info I have given??? Thank you all for your time....
Dane
When you say you check the grounds did you take it apart, sand them down and reinstall them. Only reason why I ask is I definitly had a ground issue, the ones right underneath the battery box. Also pull that code up