Thread: My temperture gauge dropped down to 1/3

I recently went to Capertee for a Range Rover Club function in my TD5 and going up the Blue Mountains my Temp gauge dropped down to 1/3 while my dash LED showed normal( about 82C).
I stopped in a fuel station and wiggled the plug and it came good.

When I got to Capertee, I half removed the sound damper on the engine and squirted some LP gas into the socket, and cleaned up the prongs on the plug with a cotton bud wet with Metho. I have already cut a bit off the shroud and put split tube around the wiring to prevent chafing.

All is good now, and so I conclude that a bit of oil on the plug was causing a high resistance.

But I wonder what this did to the signal to the ECU, and what effect it has on a diesel to have a low temperature signal. I seem to have used much more fuel than normal, but I don't think it possible that the mixture would be richer. Does the injection timing change?

There is a thread from 2013 that recommends changing the Thermostat if the temp gauge reads low, but I reckon often it is just a dirty plug on the sensor. So check the plug first!
Regards Philip A

Originally Posted by PhilipA

But I wonder what this did to the signal to the ECU, and what effect it has on a diesel to have a low temperature signal. I seem to have used much more fuel than normal, but I don't think it possible that the mixture would be richer. Does the injection timing change?


Regards Philip A

The ECT sensor input is part of the addaptive strategy for fuelling calculations and low input will cause overfuelling cos for the ECU low temp input means colder engine and acts accordingly, that's why the consumption is greater when it's cold outside cos more fuel is consumed untill the engine reaches the normal working temp.