My 86 trans am originally came with a computer controlled quadrajet which I swapped for an aftermarket carb. While I was in the process of getting the car running again, I pulled out the AC system, the smog pump along with all of its accessories, and any and all vacuum lines that were not necessary for the engine to run. After I got the car fired up and drove it around for a weekend, it developed a small coolant leak from the intake manifold, so I ended up throwing an aftermarket intake on there as well.

Ever since I got the car running, the temperature gauge is no longer functioning- it just reads "100" at the bottom of the gauge. I did confirm that the rad fan is still kicking on as it should. I'm assuming that the issue has something to do with the wiring of the AC that I disconnected, based on the wiring diagram of my Haynes manual, but it's not clear on exactly which connector controls the temp gauge. Can anyone explain/provide some pictures of what the temp gauge wiring and connectors look like?

Thanks so much!

 

Check the wire to the sending unit on the driver side cylinder head.
Should be green...

 

Is this it? I'm just struglling to visualize how you would hook a wire up to this. I didn't unplug any wires from the head when I was working on it either, so I don't know how it would have come loose. Do you have a picture of what the actual connector looks like? I'm sure it's just dangling in the engine bay somewhere.

 

Dark green wire, connector body probably used to be white; probably comes from the harness that runs up the driver's side of the carb, and over the valve cover from there.

Temp gauge sending unit is in the driver's side head between the #1 & #3 spark plugs.

Sorry to hear you hacked your AC off. Can't think of many things that ruin a car's future value worse than that.