My brother had a phantom autometer water temp guage laying around, so I decided to intall it in my car (1989 5.0 TPI GTA). I put in the sender that came with the guage in the spot where the sender in the front of the intake manifold was. After i started my car for the first time, i threw a code and the car died on startup... so i figured that the computer was registering that the old sender was missing, so I plugged the old sender into the harness (without re-installing it in the manifold), and the car started and ran ok.

My question is: Does the computer use the coolant temp sensor (the one that has two wires that goes to the guage in the dash mounted in the front of the intake manifold) sender for feedback purposes?? If it does can I use the stock sender for my autometer guage? I know I have seen someone with TPI and an autometer temp guage (custom installed in the dash), so there must be a way to do it without messing the computer up.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

89GTA5spd

 

I belive that bung is 3/8ths piep thread, but thats just from bringing up a picture of it in My head here, Just install a T.




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60 Ranchero - Project ( Money Hole )
85 Sport Coupe LG4 - Daily Driver

Livin' the Stereotype

 

Can I buy a "T" at a hardware store? (home depot is 5 minutes from me) Has anyone done this? will it give as good readings? I looked in the archives and saw a picture of a sensor mounted in the thermostat housing, and was thinking of doing that, but I'd have to borrow a tap... a "T" sounds easier though.

 

The sender that's in the left head between the #1 and #3 plugs is the one for the temp gauge. You should probably remove the stock one from there and put your new one in its place. You are correct, the one in the front of the intake is the one the ECM uses, so you can't alter that.

Some other kinds of cars do have the ECM's CTS mounted in the water outlet. It's possible that you might be able to find one that has the fitting and would fit under the TPI at a parts store. I'd try NAPA for something like that, just look through the pictures in the back of the catalog.

I'm not sure but I suspect a T would affect the accuracy too much.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."

 

That's interesting.. i didn't know there was another sensor between the 1st and 3rd cylinder... I am assuming you have to go under the car to remove it, right?. I hate jacking my car up, I guess I'll go change that tommorow, unless I decide that I want to keep my stock one working as well as my autometer one, then I'll just tap the thermostat housing. I don't have to drain my coolant because my radiator decided to spring a gigantic leak yesterday.

One more thing, the guage was cake to install since the fuse box had the auxillary ignition and insturment light power sources. By tapping those, the guage works like stock, it even dims with the stock guages. At least GM got something right I think I am going to get a vacuum guage too and get the dual pod that mounts on the a-pillar cover.

 

That's interesting.. i didn't know there was another sensor between the 1st and 3rd cylinder... I am assuming you have to go under the car to remove it, right?. I hate jacking my car up, I guess I'll go change that tommorow, unless I decide that I want to keep my stock one working as well as my autometer one, then I'll just tap the thermostat housing. I don't have to drain my coolant because my radiator decided to spring a gigantic leak yesterday.

One more thing, the guage was cake to install since the fuse box had the auxillary ignition and insturment light power sources. By tapping those, the guage works like stock, it even dims with the stock guages. At least GM got something right I think I am going to get a vacuum guage too and get the dual pod that mounts on the a-pillar cover.

 

you don't have to jack it up...it's kinda hard to get to if you have stuff in the way though.

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1982 Camaro Z28

trying to make it worthwhile for the spring....

Check the website for progress http://members.fbody.com/Pro82Z/