I put together my bike after a crash awhile back and my coolant temperature gauge didn't work. Being burned out after a month of working on the bike, I checked to make sure my radiator fan went on when the engine warmed up, did a little riding and put the bike away about a month ago.
I finally got around to working on the coolant gauge today using shop manual procedures. I ground out the gauge like the manual said and the gauge tested fine. @#$%&! The shop manual says if the gauge works, the next step is to test the thermosensor.This involves draining the coolant out of the radiators and some other crap I just didn't feel like doing. Well, having come from the lazy man's duct tape and bailing wire school of repair I decided I would try two things:

1) If an impact screwed things up, an impact would fix it right? I took my rubber body shop hammer and gently tapped the thermosensor housing a few times.

2) Maybe the connector got jostled or got dirt in it during the crash? I cleaned the inside of the connector and sanded the thermocouple contact making sure to pinch the connector on the unit tightly.

Wala! The idiot savant route worked! I fired up the bike and the coolant gauge works fine! Maybe I'll buy a lottery ticket tonight.....

 

K.I.S.S school of mechanics at it's best...

Unfortunately that rarely translates to lottery tickets...

 

Some object to my signature line but it's really true depending on whose neighborhood you live in. My first was a Texan, living in a prodominately German community surrounded by smaller towns that were all Norwegian and Swedes.

How many Texans does it take to eat an Armadillo? Three - one eats - the other two watch for traffic. And so on . . .

 

Thread title made me think you had your temp gauge fixed in Santa Poco by the Three Amigos!