We bought my daughter her 1997 SE7 two weeks ago. On the drive home I notice the temp gauge isn't working. So I've set my sights on a UG. We've driven it several times since our purchase, and of course it never works.

So yesterday I take her truck to pick up a customer and take him to lunch. My excuse to her is that I "wanted to keep the battery charged". When really I just LOVE the old darn thing. (She's named it "Scout"). Anyhow, on the way home from the luncheon, I look down and lo and behold - the temp gauge is working!
It was registering "just" at the bottom of the mark on the dial about 1/4 the way up.

Then it hit me... the night we brought it home it was around 15 degrees and I was running the heater. And of course it's been freezing for about the two weeks we've had it. Yesterday it got up to 55F. Too funny.

Still going to get a UG, and of course put a 180F thermostat in her.
Murphy

 

Definitely need a stat or you are real low on coolant, I been getting around 180* driving with 195 stat in these crazy low temps 9* and the dash gauge still makes it to the "normal" spot

Be sure to burp it when you do the stat and if coolant looks old flush it

 

"Still going to get a UG, and of course put a 180F thermostat in her.
Murphy "

Be aware that the UG may not be able to calculate MPG, DTE, or any values that depend on the MAF output for data. The low Grams per second values my 98's OBDII reports make the UG think I am getting 1500 MPG. I've reported this to UG, but They haven't added it to the exceptions list on their web site. My Actron code reader sees the same low G/S values as the UG so it is a Rover problem, not a UG problem, but they should still let potential buyers know what UG functions will and won't work for their vehicle.

The temp gage works fine, though, and the UG is also handy for turning off those darn P1313 and P1314 engine codes every other day.