recently, my temp gauge has been going up until it reaches about 1/4 of its movement, and then drops back down to below zero slowly. i know for a fact my oil pressure sender cable is faulty (no insulation) because bumps when accelerating make it flicker on and off. could the same thing be causing intermittent operation of my temp gauge? i never suspected it of running hot until just now. i let the engine idle for about 10 minutes to warm it up (reving occassionally) in order to suck a little water into the intake to start my steam clean process that we talked about in my last thread. after i was done (just water) and turned off the engine, it started smoking towards the back of the exhaust side. not a huge plume of smoke or anything, just an ethereal ghost of smoke. poetic yes, but scary. so here i am with a potentially overheating engine, no working temp gauge, and my bentley manual is across town! of course i some how managed to bring my hayes and chilton manual... quel nightmare! can anyone outline a quick test of the temp gauge and sender so i can see potentially get the old gauge working reliably for my ride to my bentley? i realize its probably the stupid wire harness which is almost non functional anyway, but how can i test it and maybe rig it for now? the coolant level is on the money, radiator is very warm to touch... can i test to make sure its circulating? could it have been that i ran the engine for a long time and didnt actually move? if the smoke was coming totally from the exhaust manifold and downpipe (which im not totally sure of) could it be ok because under normal conditions airflow cools that some?

helplessly
handsome greg