temp guage extreme right 2003 Cavalier Z24

The temp guage on our 2003 Cavalier Z24 swung to the extreme right indicating overheating. There was no accompanying indicator light coming on ie. low coolant or check engine etc. The motor did not show any signs of overheating and it continues to run well. After sitting for three hours, the temp guage is still at the extreme right, to the point that it is interferring with the speedometer guage needle. Just to complicate things, the speedo needle does not seem to be working now! Is this common? Does it sound like a faulty temperature sending unit? How would that explain the speedo problem? Could the speedo have been damaged by the temp needle holding it back? Does this sound like it could be driven to work in the morning?... (it is still running like a top). Is it worthwhile locating the temp sending unit and disconnecting it? If so, does anybody know where to start looking for that? (we don't have the repair manual)

 

Did the gauge slowly go over to the right or one quick sweep? If the car overheated maybe the gauge got stuck. It sounds like it may be a gauge/sender problem but you want to make absolutely sure that it is not overheating before you drive it. Some cars have more than one temp sensor. If one had access to a scan tool you could see what the ECT parameter is at when the car is cold and then what it is at when running. Should be about 190-210.

 

It appears that there is a problem surfacing with these cars. This is what a GM auto tech told me: "the problem is in the ipc (instrument cluster panel) itself.because the temp guage went beyond it's limit.there is probably a short in the ipc itself.just starting to see this problem surface.I have replaced 3 this week."

"if your saying it does not overheat or there are no drivability problems,i cant see why you can't drive it."

I askedoes the steering wheel have to come off? If so, I might not be able to do the job because of the air bag? I heard the air bag requires special tools and equipment and should be worked on only by certified shop?

"_the steering wheel does not have to come off,just tilt the steering wheel down all the way to get the bezel around the ipc off.just remove the upper dash pad and bezel around the radioo and ipc.this job is not to hard.
the ipc is not real hard to change.i think they're about $250.00 from the dealer,but you can call a junk yard and ask if they have one.mabe get luckey and find one that new that was wreaked.only problem with getting used cluster is milage cannot be programmed. by using new one, milage showed will still be correct within the few days she drives it without new one in."

This forum might not let me send images. I tried to cut and paste the dash tear down diagram but if someone wants it I can maybe email it to them. Is there a way to include images in this forum?

 

Tinkering: you can post your images to a site such as photobucket.com and then copy/paste the HTML code into a post. that way we will get the pix in the post.

 

Thanks for that chandler. Here is the dash diagram.