New Zealand Datsun Club

The 120Y has been running generally warm since Ive got it until last week it decided to start overheating so Ive changed the thermostat and its doing well now except for the one weird problem- temperature gauge needle crawls up to about 3/4 or 2/3 from the halfway point when I turn my lights on .. and back down when I turn them off ..
I think it needs to go to an auto-electrician but has anyone encountered something similar?

Cheers

I'm no auto sparky but it sounds like an earth problem in the dash or current back feeding from you park lights, does it only happen with head lights on, or with just the park lights by themselves?

Ive only thought to try headlights, although earthing problem does sound about right because the panel beaters did screw around with the lights a bit when they had it (when I came to pick it up the left park light was acting as an indicator.. haha).

Ill try the park lights as well though

more than likely an earth problem. I had an N14 pulsar that "overheated" all the time when I first got it. It would creep up into the red zone after about half an hour of driving, even though it was not boiling. I replaced all sorts of things. Eventually I put an extra earth strap from gearbox to chassis and it stopped immediately! Wish i did that first.
General rule of thumb is if its doing something weird electrically, its normally a poor earth, its also the cheapest thing to fix so do it first haha

nick_m wrote:It would creep up into the red zone after about half an hour of driving, even though it was not boiling.

Yeah that seems like what its doing now, ofcourse what it did before I changed the thermostat was creep up into the red AND boil haha