Bill, I had to replace my original temp gauge in my '50
several years ago with one of the reproduction ones from
Chevy Duty.
It often sticks at start up and after 15 or 20 minutes it will
pop up to the correct reading as though the needle is
sticking on something. This started a couple of years after
I'd installed it. The needle is not bent and the movement is
free, is it has to be something to do with the internal part
of the movement. I suspect it's just another one of those
crappy parts that was assembled in some back alley in China
with no concern to tolerances and no QC.
Peter there shouldn't be any tefflon tape needed to seat the
bulb, unless it's for the adapter. If you have a '61 235 then
it would need an adapter because the it originally uses a pipe
thread. The adapter allows you to use the sealed bulb type
gauge, which seals by a type of compression seat and nut. If,
as Hollow65 mentioned, you've cracked the bulb installing it,
the ether may have leaked out. That you should have smelled
because it has a very distinctive smell. The younger set
probably aren't familiar with ether, which was a common
smell around doctors offices and hospitals years ago.
How ever, if it is working when you put it in boiling water
then the other most likely possibility is as Mike mentioned,
an air pocket.
I don't quite understand the statement you made earlier, "I
put it back where the PO had it installed." It can only go
in one place, which is at the back of the head on the left
side, with the adapter bushing.
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL
Last edited by Denny Graham; 10/08/2014 11:15 AM.
