Do I need a new radiator? Temp gauge shoots stright up

[Ken Styles]

^But it's not leaking anything... would that be a cause?

I'm checking the sending unit tonight..if I can figure our where the plug is

 

[GJarrett]

Nope, you're right. If you've got no leak then a gasket can't be leaking. It's back to the gauges and/or sender or the wiring in the circuit (bad ground, etc). The fact that your gauge shoots straight up even when the engine hasn't had a chance to warm up yet was the clue. Those other guys were right and I was wrong

 

[Saleen_SR71]

not trying to jack a thread, but my radiator seems to be leaking from the side (5.0 ohc). it was find 2 days ago, but last night when i got home there was fluid dripping and i checked it this morning and it was radiator fluid.

and today i put more fluid in to double check and once again it leaked fluid. thing is the gauge reads normal.

well im not 100% sure its my radiator, so at school im going to see if i could use the coolant system tools and pressureise the system to see if the radiator is the problem and see what the teacher thinks.

do they make performance radiators for explorers? i was assuming it would be better to get a performance radiator since i have a bored and stroked motor

 

[Ken Styles]

hey guys..now it is doing the opposite
now the temp on the dash stays on the "C" all the way at the bottom

It was right in the middle for a couple months...
I changed the thermostat and then a couple days later it was in the normal range...for a couple months

now the gauge is reading COLD at all times......what gives? :shrug

New gauge cluster?

 

[BrooklynBay]

Test the wiring at the sending unit.

 

[ProjectAviator]

When I replaced my stock sender with the Autometer one. The stock wire was all green and corroded at the sender. With the sender unpluged the factory temp guage will not register.

Tim