k,got 2 questions.
1. on the starter,trying to remove it so I can test it and I know its going to be pretty hard to get off anyway because of how long its been on there. What I unsure of is how many bolt or pins hold it on. I figured theres only 2 bolts but before I beat myself to death getting it of I wanted to be sure,lol. I saw something that looked like a pin with a snap ring on it but I think thats unrelated? On the solenoid is there anymore bolts that hold that starter to the block? Like said I only pulled 2 long bolts out. Simple question but I figured maybe the people that have done this before may know.

2. I need to install a coolant temp sensor in my car. It was rebuilt so its either not there or not hooked up. Where do they normally put the sensor on the 5.0,and if it would be easier would there be another place I could install a new one,lol. I think there keep enough to maybe take the easy way out,lol.

My car if the 5.0 v8 from 1987.
Thanks for all the help,and just wanted to say thanks here for all the tech articles and write ups, I learned how to do more things on here than anywhere else. Very informative...and if I typed anything weird sorry,I worked 8-5 and then worked 6 to 8:30 on my car,lol,i'm tired....

 

The starter is held on by two bolts, and two connections are connected via a nut so you'll have to unthread the nut, it's not very difficult at all to remove, just make sure you have some room to move down there.

The CTS is installed right in the front of the engine, right near the thermostat housing. The coolant temperature sensor must have access to coolant obviously so it has to be mounted somewhere where it is easily accessed, I would recommend leaving it in the stock position.

Hope this helps.

 

Only 2 bolts that hold the starter to the engine. There are also a couple of nuts holding wires to the solenoid that must be removed. As for the coolant sensor, which one do you mean. The gauge sensor is not the same one that the ECM uses (I don't know why, but that's the way it is). The computer sensor is in the front of the engine just below the throttle. The one for the gauge is in the driver's side head IIRC. Please fill in your information so we know what type of setup you have (TPI, TBI, or carb).

 

1987 5.0 v-8 carb. Yea I need the sensor that works operates the gauge. Probably a stupid question but what does IIRC mean? Its starting to get real hot around where I live and I want to make sure I don't over heat the car.

Yea...as far as room to work goes I haven't got that luxury yet,lol. I'm a small guy so I pretty much fit under the car,just hard to see sometimes even with the flash light. I gonna get a set of ramps real soon.

 

IIRC = If I Recall Correctly. :-) Not sure about your car, but ramps are worthless with mine because of the ground effects. I just use jack stands and a floor jack in the driveway.

 

ok,after several curse words i decided to buy a butterfly impact,starters out now,lol. At least I've learned stuff. K,will I was under the car I notice tho that one of plug wires was disconnected from the spark plug. How can I check to make sure all my plug wires are running to the right plug,this determines firing order correct? It says on the intake manifold the firing order,how do I know which plug wire from the distributor goes to which cylinder? Its it counter clockwise, clockwise,and if so from which wire will I start or does it matter? Sorry for all the questions and thanks for the help/advice,now to the autoparts store to test the starter....

 

I'm almost 100% sure the rotor spins clockwise, the firing order is in my haynes, I'll look it up, unless someone else knows it off the top of their head.

 

It turns clockwise (viewed from above) and the order is 18436572. Odd cylinders are on the driver's side, even on the passenger's.

 

hm....ok,starter tested ok. I traced up the wire and found where the wire had been spliced together poorly,redid that. On the wires I noticed big round black cylinders,are there fuses inside those to check? I gonna check the fuses inside the car. Had to stop for dinner so figured I'd post an update...

 

Hm, I don't quite understand what you mean by "black cylinder" I think I have an idea and it could be a fuse, you should check it.

 

1-8-4-3-6-5-7-2 Tenp sensor is on drivers side head towards the front of car possibly green wire, don't quote me on that!!!

 

This is all corrrect, but as has been mentioned, the sensor for the gauge is in the cylinder head, sensor for the computer is in the intake manifold. If the sensor for the computer is bad/doesn't work, you're ognna have a hard time getting the car to run.

 

hm,found the prob on the starter. The threads on the solenoid were stripped out and making a poor connection. Seeing as how many people seem to have starter issues heres a new thing to check(atleast I have one issue I can somewhat help people with,lol). Just about have the water gauge working too.

New problem tho,has a weird click noise that doesn't follow a consistent time pattern. It clicks in varied intervals. Same sound click as a solenoid engaging. I recently changed the belts so wonder if I did something wrong there. Also noticed the harmonic balancer has a wobble to it,wondering if that might be wrong. Or the timing might be off,I going to check that tomorrow. I have a friend thats a mechanic thats going to help me figure out what the problem is. Just posting incase this has happened to someone else before. Don't know what problems these cars are prone too...

 

hm,just checked my distributor wires,there all going to the right cylinders in the right order......