Hey guys, my fist post on thirdgen.org and I need some help ASAP.

While i was trying to find out why my engine in my 88' pontiac firebird formula was idleing like crap I found a pritty stupid problem.

the previous owner switched out the air charge or w/e sensor that goes at the top back of the intake manifold, with a metal plug I went to my local autozone and they sold me a new one but that caused more problems....

now my coolant temp gauge does not work... earlier in the year the fan stopped working and it kept overheating so I wired in a manual switch into the cab. Now the gauge doesnt work and I dont know when to switch the fan on or off... I went back to autozone and they sold me a coolant temp thinggy... little did I know what kind of problems that would cause... The previous owner rewired the pig tail to some kind of junkyard plug that he silliconed on there to get it to stay... this was a one wire plug.... the new sensor that I bought had a two wire plug because they no longer make the single wire anymore. So I got the sensor and I got a dual wire pigtail... I need some help because I twisted the two ends together to wire into the single wire out of the harness... THIS DOES NOTHING ... I just need to know what I should do. bring the sensor back and try something else or is there a way to get this gauge to work with the two wire settup.

thanks guys.

 

I think parts store sold you the wrong temp sensor. The sensor that runs the guage is a single wire sensor, that plugs into the driver side head between #1 & #3 plugs. It should have a standard male spade connector on it, and a single wire with a standard female spade connector to it.

 

thanks, you just saved my day, I must of spent atleast $200 on changing sensors all day. Ill let you know how it goes. I havent even thought of looking at the drivers side head because ive been on the passanger side all day with the fan sensor that I just found out what it was haha.