There's an unplugged sensor(?) under and to the left of where the intake connects to the manifold. I assume its been unplugged since i've purchased the car as I haven't unplugged any wires myself... can someone here tell me what this part is and if it's important?

guesssensor.jpg?t=1243447723

 

I think it is the coolant temperature sending unit for your temp gauge or dummy light. I think your Coolant temp sensor (that goes to the computer) is to the right of this sensor.

I think the older TPI motors had the sending unit in the intake, the later TPI motors had the sending unit in the driverside head.

If this is infact the sensor, it's optional depending if you want your gauge/dummy light. It would not connect to the computer.

I have a later style TPI that had the sending unit in the head, but with the provision in the TPiS manifold I have and the fact I had to relocate my sending unit to that spot due to my head not having provisions for the sensor, this is my assumption.

 

Looks like the cold start sensor. If the car starts ok, I'd just ignore it or take it out and plug the hole with something else.
What year TPI and ECM do you have?

 

I'm not sure about the ECM but the engine is a 350 from around 90 or 92, if its a cold start sensor will I be getting any ECM error codes from it?

 

No, there is no diagnostics or control through the ecm, its just a temperature activated switch for the cold start injector. If the car starts up ok, it was probably just used to plug the hole in the base.

 

Thanks madmax for the quick help!

 

If the TPI is original 90-92, it won't have the cold start injector. The 90-92 intake should only have the temp sensor in front of the intake. Which year is the TPI system you have on the engine? Did you see if you had sensors in the heads?

Does your temp gauge/dummy light work in your dash?

 

There's a sensor between the 1 and 3 spark plugs and another between the 6 and 8, right now my radiator fan wont turn on and the temp gauge doesn't work, I'm going to be replacing both of the sensors i mentioned later on today to see if I can start getting some kind of cooling going on.