Thermostat or temp sensor problem?

[HighOctane]

I went on a 120 mile cruise yesterday. The car did great but when I got close to home I saw the temp creeping up a bit but still safe. I was about 2 miles from the house and the gauge suddenly went to H. I pulled over and checked under the hood. There was no boiling over and the cap wasn't even warm. I got back in it and the temp was back to normal after 2 minutes. On the way home it did it twice more. I just pulled over turned it off for a minute or two and it would go back safely into normal on M in Temp.

Would this be the thermostat, sensor or gauge? Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[TheRktmn]

Did your Fuel and Oil gauges go up at the same time? If yes, I would replace the instrument voltage regulator. If No, I suspect a faulty sender.

 

[HighOctane]

I did not notice my fuel gauge go up. I am thinking of replacing the sensor first.

 

[marks73]

Sounds like a bad sensor if the temperature hadn't gone up.

 

[73xr7vert]

What about a sensor wire shorting to ground?

 

[marks73]

That would do the same thing.

 

[Wolverine]

Any chance you were making an extended or several left turns which would leave the sensor out of fluid if you were shy on coolant?

 

[HighOctane]

Any chance you were making an extended or several left turns which would leave the sensor out of fluid if you were shy on coolant?

I had just topped off the fluid before I went on the run and checked it afterwards, still full. I will be replacing the sensor this weekend. It could very well be the original one. It has been in there a long time.

 

[c9zx]

The replacement sensors are notorious for causing the gauge to read incorrectly, usually high. Chuck

 

[will e]

bad body ground is what caused mine to do that.

 

[HighOctane]

Changed out the sensor that didn't fix it. Changed out the thermostat and drove it around that seemed to fix the issue.

 

[marks73]

So, It was sticking. Cool