I know they aren't accurate, I just wish the thing would work. I just got through putting a new temp sender in and it still doesnt budge. What would be the next step from here?
Hissin is dead on. I once had my sending wire CHEWED THROUGH by a mouse or something. Another time the wire just came out of the crimp at the connector. It happens.
Or you can take the even easier and better route. Get an aftermarket gauge Mine didnt work when I bought my car so I didnt even bother trying to fix it knowing how unreliable the stock ones are. Bought Autometer Cobalt water temp and voltmeter gauges (had a dual a pillar pod and didnt want to leave one empty) and boom, now I have reliable readings. Then, so I wouldnt have the look of a dead gauge, I took out the cluster when I converted over to LED lighting and put the needle of the temp gauge at about half and was done with it. Now all I need to do is get the motivation to buy and install the Cobalt series oil pressure gauge and the trifector is complete. If you go this route youll have reliable readings and your interior will be that much nicer. Like I said earlier, I then converted my interior lighting in the car over to cool white LEDs and it makes the cluster lighting and HVAC controls shine through nice and blue to match the Cobalt gauges.
This happened to my car a couple years ago. The wiring checked out ok so I replaced the sender and it did not fix the problem. I ended up replacing the guage, and that was the ticket.
The temp and ful gauge are a one piece unit (the cluster is broken up into three parts behind the bezel). I paid $115 with my supplier discount, but that was for my '95 cobra with the white gauges. It's not hard to do. If you end up going that route after verifying the wiring like they suggested above, I suggest pulling your cluseter out of the car and doing the work on a kitchen table. It's kind of delicate.
Feel free to shoot me an email if you have any questions.