I'm not sure this is the right area for this question so, admin please move if it needs to be somewhere else.
Put new batteries in my old 1996 Powerstroke F-250 yesterday and drove it around for a while. Man I know now why I love that old truck so much. Anyway I noticed the heat gauge was not coming up and I had heat from the heater. Truck has been setting up for a few months now.

Do I look for a fuse? - figure the entire instrument panel is fused together and every thing else is workng.

Heat sensor someplace on engine? - not idea where to start looking

I thought that there might be low coolant in the system, but it is fine.
Any ideas appreciated. Everything except the glow plugs (and now this) on the truck works fine and I would like to keep it that way.
thanks

Do all your other gauges appear to read normal? I had a 1978 ford that had a resistor on the instrument panel circuit board to reduce the voltage to the gauges. Mine went, and I ran out of gas one day even though the gauge showed 1/4 tank. The temperature gauge read higher than normal too. I have a 1996 F-250, but I don't know if that resistor is still used because I haven't had any trouble (yet).

If you're only seeing a problem with the temperature gauge, I'd suspect the gauge or the sending unit being kaput.

I just replaced both batteries and the positive battery cable in my 96 PSD last month. It was about a $300.00 adventure just for the parts. The hardest part, though, was getting the weather to cooperate long enough for me to do the work as my garage only has enough room to get the truck inside. When you close the garage door, there's only a few inches between the truck and the door.

Maybe the thermostat is stuck open.

Doc,
Go to www.thedieselstop.com Any and all questions about power stroke diesels can be answered.
gator

Diesel Stop or The Diesel Garage. Either site has a lot of expertise there.

You say you have heat but no reading on the guage. Sounds like an electrical issue rather than the thermostat. If the thermostat were stuck open you could drive practically all day before you get heat.

I owed a 1996 Ford PSD for 10 years and in the last 2 years or so my Temp guage gave out. I replaced the sensor unit on the engine, but it did not help. The next step was to open up the dashboard and dig out the guage and replace it. I didn't think it was worth the time and effort. The sensor sending unit was like 6-8 dollars I think. It's an easy first part to throw at it and see if it works.

96psd > that sounds like a plan to me as well.