[Gremlin]

Here's a short video of my cruze's temp gauge. This is the very first time the ignition is switched on. Any ideas what could cause this? When I last ran the car the previous night the temp was stuck in the red, the fan was blowing but the car ran fine once it had started but the warning bleeper was sounding. I don't really want to risk using the car now.

https://vimeo.com/317664879

 

[ChevyGuy]

That's a good one. I'd examine the engine wiring to look for a bad or corroded connection. From the DIC, this looks to be Canadian, so I'm wondering about road salt. Salt + water = conductive water.

 

[Gremlin]

Yeah I'm in Scotland so loads of salt. Might check the obvious connectors tomorrow

 

[Gremlin]

OK so I looked at the Temp sensor and although he contacts are tiny it looked as if one of them had corrosion in it. I reattached it, hooked the battery up and tried to start the car again. The fans came on, the temp was in the red, the car didn't start and a I got a Code 89 on the display.

 

[ChevyGuy]

My book doesn't cover the code numbers those kinds of DICs create. But the actions seem consistent with a car that thinks it's overheated. I think you're at least close to the problem.

 

[Gremlin]

Well it turned out to be the coolant sensor after all. It just read 200 degrees all the time without the engine running. Even after it was changed the car didn't start until all the error codes were cleared. now it's fine. Ah modern cars...