I Changed My Dash Bulbs, Now My Temp Gauge Is Broke

[Bklynrx7]

Just like it says in the title,I just changed the lightbulbs in my dash cluster and now my temp gauge doesnt work. I wen tback and made sure everything was assembled properly and it is. The gauge isn't totally dead, it stays normal while the car is cool but as soon as the car warms up it shoots directly to the top past the hot mark. This seems like a bad sensor to me but the fact that it happened right after I had the cluster out worries me. Any thoughts?

[GuyTelefunken]

The best way to approach it is to hook up a scantool and monitor the coolant temperature data. If the data suggests a smooth rise in temperature, the problem is likely in the cluster/gauge. If the data jumps up rapidly past the warm zone (approx. 180 deg. F, 80 deg. C) then the coolant temperature sensor is suspect, provided the thermostat is working properly.

Just curious, which bulbs did you replace?

[djspawn00]

scary stuff... you're certain you're not overheating?

[Bklynrx7]

Im not overheating. I got out and checked the coolant, felt hoses ect and the car is fine. Ive been driving it for a few weeks like this and the car is fine. I replaced the bulbs that light the speedo and tach with led's and also added 2 bulbs that were missing. There were 8 spots for these bulbs but only 6 bulbs so I took the sockets from the 2 and L gears and moved them since I dont use those gears. I may get the fsm out tomorrow and test the sensor w/ a multimeter if possible.