Temp. gauge not moving. replaced sender, sensor, and gauge. PLEASE HELP

the most expensive part of 3 possible replaced 2 times.
wow.
the sensor or the wires (end to end) are bad. (just one gauge fails?)
the service manual covers how this work.

I guess you meant the IP cluster engine temperature meter reads wrong and the engine thermostat is not bad, 23 years old and thermostats have design life of 7 years../
a scan tool set to scan PID, ECT sensor tells what coolant is doing.
189f to 213F is spec, temp range

the gauge coolant temp has:

Water Temperature Indicator Sender Unit
When the engine temperature is low, the resistance of the water temperature indicator sender unit (10884) is high, thus restricting the flow of current through the gauge and moving the pointer only a short distance. As the temperature of the coolant increases, the resistance decreases, allowing more current to flow through the gauge and resulting in a corresponding movement of the pointer.

these year trucks the gauge sender is not the ECU ECT sensor
and may be single wire sender.. try mostly fail this old, not the gauge
the wire on the sender can rust or even fall off.

probably not the water temp sensor but the temp gauge sender unit
check for a broken / disconnected wire to the sender unit
2 different units doing different jobs

the temperature sensor and the gauge sender are two different units
the wire to the temp sender could be broken or fallen of the sender
that wire has power to it and needs to be connected to the sender so that the variable resistance in the sender can work the gauge

Could be a short in the cluster, but its probably a faulty gauge. It should move when you cut off power.

the temp gauge works of a different sender to the coolant sensor. IT has 1 wire only and changes resistance as the water heats up there by moving the needle on the gauge up the scale Check that the wire is tight on the sender unit and if so then replace the sender unit.. The difficulty in re starting the motor may be because it is over heating but you would not know this because of the faulty sender unit.

Is it cold where you're at?
Have you taken the wire for the gauge off the sender and grounded the wire? The gauge should move to hot if the gauge and circuit is good. Also the connection needs to be clean.
Did you use some kind of sealant on the gauge's sender? Too much can interfere with the ground. The sender needs to make a ground to the motor through its threads. The resistance to ground changes and that is what moves the gauge.
If the Tstat was stuck open and the weather is cool that could also be a reason why the temp is low.
What temp Thermostat did you get?

your coolant temp sender could be bad. locate the temp sender. this is a 1 wire sensor. the other sensor in the block has 2 wires and starts the cooling fan.

find temp sender turn key on and disconect wire from sender and earth it if guage moves to hot sender falty, if not guage faulty, or broken wire,or no power to guage

Switch ig. on, ground the sender unit wire for about 3 seconds see if the temp. gauge moves, if so change sender unit, if not then it is a faulty gauge reader.

Switch ig. on, ground the sender unit wire for about 3 seconds see if the temp. gauge moves, if so change sender unit, if not then it is a faulty gauge reader.