Renault Megane 1996 water temp gauge

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Fri 3 Sep 2004 13:20
Renault Megane 1996 water temp gauge - Mike H
When I turn the ignition on in my 1.4 8v Megane, the water temp gauge illuminates & needle hits the top. After a few seconds, it drops back to the normal cold position. Two questions:

- is this a common problem, and whats the fix?
- whereabouts should I be expecting the needle to sit under normal driving (there is no useful "N" marking, and the handbook is useless on this point).

Also, on a related subject, does anyone know whether there is a forum specifically for Renault owners - I've looked at the Renault Owner's club site, but can't see any forums and am not clear whether modern cars like the Megane are included. There also doesn't appear to be any contact details for the club that I could find. I'm reluctant to spend £25 on joining only to find that the members area doesn't have any forums, and the club doesn't cover the Megane.

Thanks.
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Fri 3 Sep 2004 20:46
Renault Megane 1996 water temp gauge - Altea Ego
Megane? Modern? (cough)

Anyway _ I had very similar symptoms on a 405 caused by a poor engine to body earth lead. ( On the engine bolt). It erthed the engine through the sneder lead to the gauge.
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Fri 3 Sep 2004 23:32
Renault Megane 1996 water temp gauge - Mike H
Megane? Modern? (cough)



Well. I'm using the term liberally. It starts, goes & stops well enough, but the site was sprinkled with references to the 15 and 17 - good cars in their time but date back to the 1970s.

Thanks for the tip anyway, I'll check the earth strap.
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Mon 27 Sep 2004 22:34
Renault Megane 1996 water temp gauge - Mike H
In the spirit of the forum, just a quick word to say that the problem outlined in my original post is fixed - in fact, it's a non-problem. Having bought a handbook, it seems that, for approximately 30 seconds after turning the ignition on, the water temperature gauge is used to show the oil level - and uses what is effectively the red (overheating) segment of the water temperature gauge to do so. Seems a remarkably sophisticated trick for a budget car but there you go! Hope this is useful for someone else.
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