i was wondering what could cause my temperature gauge to not work because it is not working and i'd like to get it working as soon as possible so that i can tell if my engine is overheating or not.....hope not...anyways i'd just liek to know how to fix it.....thanks

 

possibly one of those two mystery wires you mentioned in another post not being connected to the coolant temp sending unit. It is located above the #1 sparkplug.

 

If your gauge reads constantly low you have an open as suggested by trickster. If its constantly high you have a wire that is shorted out somewhere.

 

Mine is constantly high. What would you suggest to search out the short? thanks.

 

Make sure your wires arent frayed anywhere and grounding out. Anothere thing to check is that your not getting a 12v power souce that shouldnt be on that circuit. Check the resistance of the sensor at different temps. It may be internally shorted.

 

Hello,
I'm bringing this back after a few months because I dropped this project in favor of other stuff. My gauge is still not working. I followed the green wire as far as I could and it looks good. So I'm thinking my sensor is internally shorted like you said. The wire I followed has a slip on connector and is located below the driver side exhaust manifold. Is that the right one. I want to replace is but I want to make sure I get the right one. Is is one of the ones pictured below?

Thanks.

 

I'd say B is the temp sensor that goes into the block. Check this thread for a reference.
A looks like the one that goes into the intake.

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=245645

It may help.

 

Yea, those are my two sensors and the answers i found out, were that (A) was the one that sends to the ECM and is to go in the intake by the thermo. (B) is the one that sends to the temp guage and goes in the driver side head.

B only has a single connection becasue its grounded to the head by the threads

 

Thanks for the info. That was my guess. BTW, when I unscrew this, will coolant leak out? Will I need to teflon tape the threads when I reinstall it? If so, will it not affect the ground issue mentioned above?
Thanks again.

 

Yes coolant will leak out, actually pour out is more like it.
Yes you need to teflon tape the threads.
It should have no effect on the ground issue.
Have fun!!

 

Make sure they aren't selling you a switch instead of a sender. Advance and Autozone both gave me the switch, and couldn't find the sensor in their stores.
If you want to check your sender here is the resistance chart.

GM Temperature Sensor Resistance
Degrees F Degrees C Ohms

20º -7 13,500

40º 4 7,500

70º 21 3,400

100º 38 1,800

160º 71 450

210º 99 185