what sensor is this?

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im cluess on that sensoe but my friend told me it might be coolant temp. sensor.. but it blows my mind because dont we have one on the intake manifold?..

water temp for the guage,..

if u say its for the gauge my gauge is not working.. but i did do some reseach with my buddy and it says that it superseeds to a diffrent sensor and got the pigtail i connected it and nothing!.. im thinkin' of takin the one off the intake manifild and putting that one on the side of the head and vise versa..

any other idea's?..

The one you have posted is indeed where it belongs and is in the correct place.

If a sensor and pigtail didn't fix it than the problem is most likely somewhere in the wiring, perhaps even the gauge itself.

I just replaced the circuit board on my 92 OCC, and it fixed a temp gauge that was going nuts. Now it is acting almost normal. It still swings a little high until the thermostat opens, but not nearly as much.

gggrrrr... another problem.. never fails.. thanks fella's!..

but the gauge itself was workin' when i parked it..

Don't swap them. The one on the manifold is for the ECM input. The one in the head is for the gauge.

Electrical failures can be instantaneous, and catastrophic. All that has to happen, is one critical part fails, and the whole unit stops working. Check the resistance of the sensor from cold to hot. If it varies, it is probably not the sensor (you can put pins through the wires away from the engine, so you do not burn yourself). The next step is the gauge. You can change the circuit board, and it that does not work, the gauge itself. I do not know what year the car is, so I do not know if I have parts to help you. If it is a 91-93, I have a couple clusters. I can set the odometer to match yours. I have a newer analog cluster too, but I can not guarantee the fit unless I see yours.

i do have a 92 fred..

Been there, replaced that. On my 95 it ended up being the gauge after replacing the sensor and looking over all the wiring. Mine would stay pegged at cold constantly.

thats mine right now.. pined at cold.. wont even move when i start it and u see all the gauges move..

So what have you done at this point. Did the sensor fix it? If not, do you need a cluster? What wrench did you use to get it out? I tried a long socket, and it did not go far enough over the unit to engage the flats.

This problem keeps recurring. If you bought your new sensor from an aftermarket source, more then likely the sensor you bought is for an idiot light, not the gauge. Went through this a few years back and the books all list the wrong one for the gauge equipped cars.

Your parts guy has to be really sharp to get it right. It is in his parts book but buried deep. I just spent the extra bucks and bought it from the dealer. Problem solved.

Bill

basiclly i have done everything possible.. the first sensor i got say it was a "cooling sensor".. put in the sensor.. even checked the resistence(the resistanced seemed to high).. also tied the two wires from the wire harness to check if the gauge even worked and it did.. it went right up to full temp. and went backed down so that is telling me that it works.. looked deeper into it.. figured out the real name for it is a "temp. switch".. so when i got the "switch" i figured this had to be the problem.. soldered the new wires on my old pigtail and got it all fansy lookin'.. got all excited.. tured it on let it sit.. temp. gauge still at pined cold..

this time im not even gonna reverse the wires cuz its resitance.. it shouldnt matter where the wire is.. unless im wrong?.. can anyone hook it up with a part number from the dealer or maybe aftermarket..

fred- i used 3/4 inch deep socket for the "cooling sensor" and i belive a deep 13/16 for the "temp. switch"..

WagonLover wrote:

this time im not even gonna reverse the wires cuz its resitance.. it shouldnt matter where the wire is.. unless im wrong?.. can anyone hook it up with a part number from the dealer or maybe aftermarket..

Suggest you call the guys at Rock Auto. Explain the sensor you need and specify that you have the gauge, not just the idiot light. There seems to be 3 possible choices in AC Delco any of the GM parts places won't give me part number, just the price ($21.00-$30.00).

What you have in there is a switch only. Check your wiring diagram. If memory serves the two wires are for the gauge and light. Try grounding out each wire individually to see how they effect the gauge.

Bill

i do have power to the gauge.. the light wont light up when i turn the key tho.. all the light r supose to light up correct?.. so im thinkin' maybe the bulb needs to complete the circut for the gauge??.. i checked everything last night.. resistance is fine at the switch.. resistance is fine at the wire harness.. even turned on the car and watch the resitance drop.. and watched it rise when the car when it was off.. I DONT GET IT!

The light and the gauge should be on seperate circuits. The sender unit has two functions:

1. There is a switch set to the upper temp limit that just completes the light circuit to ground.

2. The gauge side is a resistance circuit that will change with temp, decreasing the resistance as it gets hotter.

The two wires going into the sender activate seperate functions and are not inter-related. Both are looking for a path to ground (sensor body to engine block).

With the key on, grounding out the seperate wires will either cause the "hot light" to come on or will cause full deflection of the temp gauge, depending on what wire you ground out. A factory wiring diagram will make this very evident. By hooking the two together you should get no reading on the gauge.

Hope this helps

Bill

convert.. it did help.. so i went to my book.. (what i should have done in the first place!).. i see that it does do two diffrent things.. the green/white wire is for the gauge and the green wire is for the light.. i think my light bulb is out.. so today during my lunch break ill do some work..

ALRIGHT!.. good news fella's!.. finally figured it out.. i forgot that K.I.S.S rule.. i had the wires solderd up wrong.. and put the gauge one to ground.. the gauge works!.. so i qwick tied them up.. let the car warm up.. BANG! got temp. reading!.. i just need to replace the dummie light cuz it dont turn on.. thanks guys for all the diag. help!