oil temperature sender bad?? NEED HELP!

[john smith]

I think my oil temperature sender is bad?.. On my dash, my oil temperature doesn't go above the starting point ( the dark green part in the far far left). When the car is running, it moves up to the starting point, as it does when I turn the key onto accessory electric. But it does not move past that point. I tested the gauge and in the process broke the wire from the gauge inside. I have since soldered the connection so that it 'works' again. when the wire was off before, the gauge would as it should, shoot all the way over to the right side. Now it's back to staying at the starting point, as it was before i started taking the gauge apart. Now, I'm stuck. I need this to work because at the same time I am re adjusting the carburetors due to an extremely low idle, and therefore can't tell when the car is up to temp. So, what should i do?..could the problem be the sender?? I just purchased a new oil temp sender off of ebay and am going to try it. Any suggestions?? could the new sender be the answer to my problem?? Thank YOU SO MUCH for your comments I really need help with this.

[C. Clark]

Start by changing the sender which you have.
Chas.
356
912
911

[drauz]

a) don't panic,
b) find the closest 356 registry chapter (http://www.356registry.org/Links/clubs_us.html) & make contact,
c) after driving the car around for 20-30 min, it's warmed up (unless you live in Bemidji) so you can play w/ the carbs then (hope you know what you're doing w/ setting idle speed, mixture, etc),
d) you may have a bad oil sending unit, a bad gauge, bad wiring, or some combo (you can also buy a temp gauge / dipstick combo, too - Mainely by Design, see our site sponsor or the Registry),
e) solve one issue at a time,
f) relax & enjoy!

[jcnesq]

I believe your guage must be calibrated for the sender, so just replacing it probably won't get you accurate readings. I am planning to have North Hollywood Speedo rebuild my guage soon (and they supply a new sender in the process), but meanwhile I bought the Mainely by Design oil dipstick temp guage, which seems to work fine.