im looking for some projects to do on my car to keep me busy during the winter.

also it will get my car ahead of schedule and ready sooner once spring comes.

i need to replace my temp sender and oil sender for my gauges.

my main concern is im going to torque the senders too much one way to remove them that they break maybe or torquing too much to install the new ones and ill end up crackin the cold engine block.

shoudl i run the car to warm up and cool down enough so i dont get burned but still luke warm and them remove the senders?

doenst matter if i do it now or later just trying to keep busy.

but also dont want to ruin my engine.

probably over paranoid but i have to be since i hate paying for labor and cant afford another engine.


any suggestions?

How cold is the workspace on average?

I can't see a reason the engine block would crack at all unless you had pure water in the block, and let it freeze. If you have coolant that is mixed right for winter then you should be fine. Plastic parts will definitely be less flexible though, so be careful with them.

its a garage with 30 degree weather outside. i can heat up the garage but not by alot, just enough for me to tolerate.

obviously plasitc parts will be brittle. and yes there is 50/50 coolent in the engine.

my main concern is the steel or aluminum engine block (whatever metal its made of) to crack at the opening where the senders screw in

You should be fine then. Afterall, if engines would commonly crack at those temps with the proper coolant mix then we could never even start our cars in the cold weather and drive them.

you'll be fine.

The block and heads are cast iron. You'll be fine. If you want, use a heat gun or hair dryer to warm up the area you're working. Just to keep things from being too brittle (ie plastic parts nearby cracking, etc)