Temp reads hot at startup

[spitfire]

So here is a fun one, Yesterday morning I go to start the B and immediately the temp gauge jumps to hot. I can't believe that at a cold start the engine is hot. This happens at each cold start. Any ideas?

[Steve Simmons]

Your car uses an electric temperature gauge. I'd guess the sender has gone bad but it's also likely you have a short. Less likely would be a bad gauge. Disconnect the wire from the sender and see what happens. If it drops to cold then I'd guess it's a bad sender. If not, I'd guess a short. Someone more familiar with later MGBs may have a better suggestion.

[Jimmy]

The easy way to fix it is to simply rotate the gauge, counter clockwise in this case, until the needle points in the correct direction.

To get better oil pressure, rotate the oil pressure gauge clockwise.

[gorms68]

The easy way to fix it is to simply rotate the gauge, counter clockwise in this case, until the needle points in the correct direction.

To get better oil pressure, rotate the oil pressure gauge clockwise.

I tried this trick on my B and found I could go a lot faster too

[Jimmy]

So true, but what most people don't understand is that the trick is not so much to rotate the speedo - it's turning the tach that really does the job, by preventing you from over revving the car.
This is especially important on non-OD equipped cars.