Mep-802a temp gauge reading.

Hello,
For some backstory I lived in the city and was only able to run my generator a few times, I had to replace the temperature gauge because it was a little sticky it needed a technical tap to get the needle to jump. However the temperature needle always hovered just above 190. I moved out of the city and now I have all the time to run my generator as much as I like so, I replaced it and this new gauge holds a temp around 220. My question is what should I do? Is this a normal temperature do I have a stuck thermostat or possibly is the current gauge I got a little off? Is there any way to test the gauge? Thank you.

Whats the model number of the gauge you put in? Its more likely that the resistance figures of the gauge, arent exactly matched to the sender... so its not going to read right.

The numbers on the gauge are 947886.

That unit will read higher than stock, but understand that the gauge has nothing to do with the safety overtemp circuit... should be reading 205-210 from memory with this alternate gauge.

Here is the testing TMs on the gauge.

Have you checked / serviced the coolant system ever? With the gage you have it will normally read a little high as L.I.T.D said, but 220 is a bit more than that gage should be reading.
If you are running it at a light load you may be fine now, but could run into issues if you have to run a long time under heavy loads.
I'd suggest checking it with an IR thermometer and consider flushing the coolant and replacing the thermostat if you find that it is indeed running hot.

First step is always verify. If you still have the old gauge I'd reinstall it and see if it goes back to your old readings, just for comparison's sake.
An IR thermometer used at the sending unit in the block to verify the temp would also be very useful.
I know in my HMMWV I've had to do several replacement gauges and sending units, and every combination shows different readings, so they are more of a baseline to do quick checks at a glance if something has changed compared to normal, rather than gospel.