Currently my gauge is reading as low as it can possibly go and does not move, which from what I hear is a sign that the sensor next to cylinder one is dead and needs to be replaced.
However, all the parts I'm seeing appear to have a totally different connection style than what I have, I appear to have the old mushroom head sensor, which I can't seem to find anywhere:
http://imgur.com/a/vRGea

Would one of the older sensors built for a first gen camaro work? http://www.rickscamaros.com/camaro-c...1967-1978.html

Car is an 86 Z28.

 

The "mushroom" connector you have, will slide right up onto a regular slide terminal.

An older sensor won't work because the hole in the head was a different size back then.

Just get the one the book shows for your car, those guys may be dumb but they aren't totally STOOOOPID. It'll fit and work just fine. You can pick it up at AZ, Poop Boys, Advance, a REAL parts store, RockAuto, pretty much anywhere. It's all good.

 

That's pretty much what I figured, although the most common ones I saw were the type with the rubber cover on it and that didn't seem like it would work at all.
This one should be good to go, right? http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/c...m=temperature+

And the last bit of hand holding, from my understanding I want to drain the coolant, at least partially, then get a deep socket to fit over the whole sensor and its a pretty simple swap after that, correct? Anybody know the size of the sensor so I can buy the individual socket instead of a whole set?

 

19mm or 3/4" will do the trick and I just put a pan down to catch what coolant comes out then top the tank when finished.

 

Sounds great, hopefully this will be a low stress distraction from when I get fed up with changing my valve covers. Thanks everybody.

 

I just changed mine a couple weeks ago, and I forgot about draining the coolant....so yeah it all ran down the driveway....boy my wife was not happy.