Temperature gauge face melted!

[arton4wheels]

  Before I could change my wiring harness a short must've occurred because my temperature gauge face melted right before my eyes.  It was weird.  I thought I was experiencing some kind of weird psychedelic moment there for a second.  As the letters of "temperature" slowly warped.  Anyway, I need a gauge face.  I was quoted some ridiculous number to fix it by an instrument panel repair specialist.  I need a gauge or at least the face.  Oddly enough I tested the gauge straight to a 6v battery and it maxed out so i believe the gauge internals are fine.

Anyone have an instrument cluster or at least the gauge?

1950 Cadillac S61

[chrisntam]

Sorry to hear of the issue, suggest you also post this in the parts wanted.

Can you post a pic of the gauge debacle?  Would like to see it.

[fishnjim]

I'd say likely not.   They work off variable voltage so just going to full volts is not on scale nor proportional.   Something had to get hot enough to melt, so doubtful it's any good after that, certainly not without a through bench check.
I think you better fix your harness before your gauge, not an endless supply of gauges.
Can't stress this one enough, you can't always tell from the outside how the wires look under the insulation or bundled together and taped over.   Oxidation causes resistance, resistance causes heating, heating causes fires.   The way these '50s cars were wired does not stand up to today's electrical standards, they branched various gauge wires on one fuse big enough for the largest gauge.   So the fuse won't protect the smallest wires.   Best to run an auxillary or new larger fuse block and separate the branch circuits by amperage.   Anything over ~30 years old depending how it was exposed is likely a wiring issue.   They changed wiring specs and the insulation is "better" today.   These are early days of PVC insulation and fraught with issues.

See pic from my '58; The big red wire was under the taped harness at the firewall and was completely compromised.  No way to tell until I rewired.

[Cadman-iac]

Jim is right. First fix your wiring,  then replace the gage.
I've seen the insulation on these older wires break around the circumference of the wire, and split along the length of the wire for as much as 6 inches in one case.
 
Rick