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Where to install aftermarket water temp sender


powerplantranger

Active Member
Joined
Aug 7, 2007
Messages
43
City
La Vernia, Tx
Vehicle Year
1988
Transmission
Automatic
I can't find to old thread that shows the easiest place to install an aftermarket water temp sending unit. I could really use some input or a picture if possible..

Thanks
Eric
 
Just put it in place of the old temp sender. Them are pretty worthless anyway. Should be somewhere's close to the thermostat. Look for a single wire that goes to it.
 
I drilled and tapped next to the factory sensor. There is a flat spot where it looks like it was made to have a sensor there. This way, the dash guage works along with my after market guage.
 
My '89's thermostat housing has two sending units on it. I don't know why. There's one with one wire, a push-on thing like a spark plug type wire connection, and that's on the driver's side, real easy to get to. Then there's another one on top, with a white plastic electrical connector, and it's a little harder to get to because of the intake/throttle body thing over it.
Autozone gave me a replacement sending unit and it was the one that's on top. I replaced it, and the temp gauge still don't work. Rather than rip my dash apart to replace the cluster I'm just putting in an aftermarket gauge.
I don't know why there's two sending units on this truck,... I only want to remove the one that works the gauge. The fan is not electric and though I can turn it by hand, I don't think there's a fan clutch that uses a thermostatically controlled electric switch.
 
My '89's thermostat housing has two sending units on it. I don't know why. There's one with one wire, a push-on thing like a spark plug type wire connection, and that's on the driver's side, real easy to get to. Then there's another one on top, with a white plastic electrical connector, and it's a little harder to get to because of the intake/throttle body thing over it.
Autozone gave me a replacement sending unit and it was the one that's on top. I replaced it, and the temp gauge still don't work. Rather than rip my dash apart to replace the cluster I'm just putting in an aftermarket gauge.
I don't know why there's two sending units on this truck,... I only want to remove the one that works the gauge. The fan is not electric and though I can turn it by hand, I don't think there's a fan clutch that uses a thermostatically controlled electric switch.

The one wire sensor goes to the dash gage and the 2 wire sensor communicates with the the computer.
 
yeah you fixed the wrong sensor....may just be a break in the wire though.
 
I changed the one-wire sending unit and the gauge works now. I also discovered the little hose from the radiator filler neck to the overflow reservoir had come off. When I removed the sending unit, no coolant came out. That's what made me suspicious.
 
I did this to have both 'working' guages, a mechanical one and the stock one.




The stock guage reads before the thermostat and the mechanical reads after from the old stock position.
I just drilled and tapped a thermostat housing to fit the stock sending unit.

Rich
 
"I just drilled and tapped a thermostat housing to fit the stock sending unit."

Fyre82, Great idea and it even looks stock good job. Do you remember what size drill bit and tap you used?
 
I'm fixin' to do another one for my supercab.

Sounds like a cool project for today . . .

Stay tuned . . .

:beer:

Rich
 
The sensor has a metric thread. I'm still looking into the correct tools to use, not the ones I used to make it work.

I'll post up a separate thread for that later today.

:beer:
Rich
 

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