temp. gauge misreads (maxed out)

[jwendell]

i have a '96 JGC laredo, 5.2 V8, my temp. gauge reads the maximum all the time even though my engine isn't overheating, this causes my "check gauges" light to appear. this also causes my interior lights to blink noticeably when driving at night. i no longer have delay on my windsheild wipers. one time when i was driving the alarm starting going off, but that only happpend once. i have replaced the coolant/temp. sensor and that didn't fix the problem. after i replaced the c/t sensor, the "check engine" light appears but shuts off after a few miles.

i've already tried turning my key on/off three time and leaving it on "on" on the 4th attempt to have my computer let me know what's wrong, but that didn't work???

also, my computer doesn't tell me that anything is wrong, i read in a thread that the computer should tell me a sensor is bad.

is my computer going to hell??

does anyone have any idea to what may cause my guage to read faulty temps?

thanks for the advice!!

jw

later that day....
i hooked up an OBD II to it and it read P0118 "Engine Coolant Temperature (ECT) Sensor Circuit High Voltage". is this simply telling me what my gauge is telling me?
any ideas on how to fix this error???

thanks...