ECU on Ledbury Maestro?

[PhilD]

I have been running A Ledbury Maestro for the last few months and have always been aware that the temperature gauge reads lower than any other Maestro I have owned and is barely on the scale even after a long journey. At first I thought that the thermostat was probably stuck open, but the fact that the heater gave a reasonable output even after a short journey contradicted this. I have swapped the temperature sender and the instrument panel and seen no change in the gauge reading. My next thought was to change the ECU, which definitely caused temperature gauge problems on my original 1985 1.3HLE, but I cannot locate this on the Ledbury car. Some of the wiring diagrams in the Haynes manual seem to show an ECU and others do not. My question is if anyone knows whether one is fitted to my Ledbury car and if so where? Also if there is no ECU, is there anything else I could try which may resolve this minor irritation?

[PhilD]

I think I've answered the first question myself. Having looked closely at all the wiring diagrams in the manual, I think the ECU is only present on cars having a stepper motor to control the choke, which would explain the need for sensing the engine temperature (i'd forgotten this because I converted my original 1.3HLE to manual choke years ago). As the Ledbury has a manual choke,there would be no need for an ECU. Still don't know why the gauge reads so low though.

[steve smith]

i would try changing the thermostat i had same trouble with my monty until i changed that and it now reads just over a 3rd on the gauge

[tezza SG1]

I had the same with my ledbury till i changed the thermostat. it was stuck open.

[RobK]

I had the same with my ledbury till i changed the thermostat. it was stuck open.

When you stuck a new thermostat in was it a summer or a winter one?

[e692wtt]

Just bung an 88C one in - any decent thermostat will be rated around this temperature anyway - and it will be fine :) .

88C being opening temperature. The 'stat might have anther temperature on it as well (it may have something like "88C - 102C" stamped on it, the higher temperature is the temperature at which it will be fully open), it is the first/lower temperature that matters in this case.

[tezza SG1]

i put an 88c in mine.