I was driving around last weekend in my 98 F-150. Pulled through the drive in a Sonic to get some drinks to take home. I looked down and I noticed that the temperature gauge on the truck was rising up around the "H" end of the dial. Not good.
Being that I am an electrical designer I immediately think of things that could be going wrong from an electrical point of view. Could there be an issue with a resistor, the wiring, the temperature sensor somewhere in the engine block? What is going on that I can fix with my knowledge.
I get home, check the coolant level, and add about a gallon and a half of water to the radiator. Problem solved.
I have known that I have a slow leak in the heater core that needs to be dealt with, but for some reason I could not put that fact together with the temperature gauge.
The saying goes "when you hear the sound of hooves, think of horses not zebras". The most basic explanation for a problem is typically the cause of the problem.
