Temperature sensor/ sender Help!

[MadMaxZuki]

Hello everyone, I hoping to find some help on this. I have a 2005 Ford Ranger Edge 4wd 4.0L and I just recently replaced the thermostat housing and its components. This is my 3rd ranger but first 4.0L. I was under the impression that one is a sender and one is a sensor. I put it back together and had the connector with the green wire on the sensor and the other on the sender and my gauge pinned to hot instantly. So I took it apart and swapped the connectors every thing seems to work fine. Now I have an engine code of "coolant temperature low circuit input". The catch is what I took out was two temp sensors, not one of each with no engine codes for the few hundred miles I put on the truck. Does anyone have a educated answer on what is happening or if my specific year does not use a sender? If it does have a sender then I would start by replacing that. Thank you

PS
I am not trying to come off confrontational but I am looking for an answer not opinions please. I have a bad taste from other forums in the past for the bad habit of people giving suggestions to everything but the question being asked with no expertise backing up their opinions. I'm hoping this forum is different considering how through and helpful your website has been. Thank you in advance.

 

[RonD]

Welcome to TRS

I am surprised there are still 2 temp units in '05
ECT(engine coolant temp) sensor will have a cone shaped end, the part in the coolant
ECT Sender will have a cylinder shaped end

This is just for future reference, auto parts guys will often give you a Sensor when you want a Sender, so open the box and have a look


Sender will have a Red and Black wire both with white stripe.

Engine codes are set in memory and need to be cleared, so code could have been set when wires were reversed.

What is the exact code?
Low temp code could mean the new thermostat is sticking open so engine coolant is not getting up to 185-190degF with in the 5 to 8 minutes of drive time allotted

 

[MadMaxZuki]

Ron thank you for the reply.

The code is P0117(1 of 2) "engine coolant temperature circuit low input" Same thing for (2 OF 2)

I have the red/white and black/white wires to sensor (grey) and red/green and red/grey wires to sender (brown).

When I first put it back together, I had the connectors swapped (opposite of what is above) and the temp gauge was pinned to the max, along with engine light.

When I corrected it after that the engine code did not occur till after the engine was running for awhile. I then cleared it drove it to dinner (11 miles round trip) and engine code returned halfway home.

My understanding is the issue is with the sender bc the sensor ONLY affects the temp gauge.

 

[adsm08]

Yes, except you have your terms backwards.

Sensors are for computers, senders are for gauges.

 

[MadMaxZuki]

Yes, except you have your terms backwards.

Sensors are for computers, senders are for gauges.

Thank you for the clarification.

 

[MadMaxZuki]

The problem has been fixed. My 2005 does not use a sender, the sensor (grey connector) goes in both ports.

 

[RonD]

The problem has been fixed. My 2005 does not use a sender, the sensor (grey connector) goes in both ports.

I will need to ponder that "fix"

 

[MadMaxZuki]

When I called Ford to see if they had a sender in stock, they replied both ports use the same part number and there is no sender for your truck.