I would like to know if I can remove the black box/canister in the pic. The wires were cut before I got it. If it’s just taking up space I would like to get rid of it.

Also, in the 2nd pic, what is the green wire attached to on the drivers side of the engine bay? It’s clipped onto something and I’m not sure exactly what it is.

I recently replaced the gearbox, pitman arm, both front coil springs and added a wonder bar brace. It made a huge difference in handling.
Do I need to get an alignment after replacing the above components?

 

The wiper motor? You *can* remove it I suppose. I'd rather have working wipers personally
The green wire is attached to the temp sensor. Well, one of the 2 temperature sensors.

 

I feel like an idiot, lol. That would also explain why the wipers don’t work. I had not messed with the wipers yet, it was on my list of things to do.

 

I feel like an idiot, lol. That would also explain why the wipers don’t work. I had not messed with the wipers yet, it was on my list of things to do.

 

Yeah sometimes things are like that.... although the person who should REALLY feel like an idiot, but probably doesn't and instead thinks he did something "good" when they cut those wires, ought to be sentenced to hard time in a federal pound-me-in-the-a$$ prison for touching dykes without a license.

That particular temperature part isn't a [mrspock] sen-sore [/mrspock], exactly. It's a sending unit. The one for the temp gauge specifically. That one is the stock style, with the "mushroom" connector.

 

That may be to lenient!

So the two wires that are long enough to connect back to the wiper motor are the green and pink wires. There are several more that are cut down by the harness, by the firewall, behind the engine.

 

Here is a closer pic of the wiper motor cut wiring. Do the 3 wires close to each other all just go back together?
I can see where the green wire reconnects but the long pink one has me confused.

 

No; there's another harness that comes from the car, that they go to. The 2 purple may go together but the rest go to the wiper sw, fusebox, etc.

 

After replacing any front-end component(s), it's a smart move to have an alignment done.





As an aside, before you start re-splicing all those chopped-up wires, first take a close look at the car's fuse panel. Make certain there have been no jack-leg "repairs" done there such as shunting across fuse terminals with solid wire or fuses that have been replaced with those having higher-than-factory current ratings. I wouldn't trust anything previously done by whomever did that hack-job; don't take anything for granted.

 

I mean - I do most certainly see your reasoning behind not calling it a "sensor" - to the layman this usually indicates some kind of black box components that does unnatural things with electricity which they can't see or fathom, while this particular unit is simply a thermistor.....

But all the definitions of a "sensor" that I can find do seem to more or less apply to it. Such as (from google):

And:

In the former case, the thermistor is converting temperature into resistance to be read by the gauge cluster (arguably a machine). In the latter it "measures" temperature and "responds" to it.

/devil's advocate

GD

 

It's been called a "temperature gauge sending unit" since The Dawn Of Time. NOTHING was ever called a "sen-sore" until electronic controls appeared. And even then, the ones for gauges are still called "sending unit" in catalogs.

And really, a "coolant temp sensor" is nothing but a thermistor, anyway. I don't know the resistance vs temp curves for each of them offhand but it's entirely possible that it's the identical same thing, just maybe a bit more precise in the one application, and re-packaged a bit with a different connector.

However that may be, whether it fits the strict literal definition of the word "sen-sore" is only part of the battle. Being able to walk up to the counter and reliably ask for the right thing, and get it the first counterman's guess, is of value as well.

 

See - a "sending unit" sounds more like a device that actively supplies a signal - like a hall effect, or optical sending unit that puts out a square wave that is then readable by components receiving said signal. Of course these also fall into the broad description of "sensor".

The thermistor doesn't actually send anything. Quite the opposite since the gauge sends a voltage through it so it can read the voltage drop across it.

I see what you mean though - as usual English and it's technical jargon is a mess of inaccuracies. It's no wonder there's still so much lack of understanding of electronics and computers among the population at large. Seems to be rampant around the hot rod and car enthusiast communities.

GD

 

There are definitely some electrical gremlins or more likely poor grounding. I was pulling the crank pulley off today to get to the optispark and my ratchet kept making contact with the fan motor and causing it to start, after some sparks and me cursing.

This is my current fuse setup under the dash. Is there another fuse box location?
It would appear to be missing several...

 

It's all semantics at this point anyway. That's why I didn't dispute the wording when Sofa brought it up originally. I shouldn't bother to care. But in this case I shall point out that even the GM service manual calls it a sensor.

As far as the OP and the wiring wiper motor, I'd refer to wiring diagrams and wires I have in the car. As ironwill pointed out, the fuse box and everything else could be previous owner abused. http://www.austinthirdgen.org/?pid=19

 

that's the only fuse box. The ones without fuses were likely never wired at the factory either. Take a good look for anything hacked into behind and around the fuse box.

 

Sounds like the fan motor is not grounded.

The connector has 2 wires; one is power, one is ground. If the ground one is disconnected then of course the fan will never run. But if somebody has sodomized the wires such that the 12V one is always hot but the ground one is not connected, then exactly what you describe happening, will happen.

Your car must have been victimized by a great many "improvements" to the electrical system. If the one involving the wiper motor is any indication of the "craftsman", you're in for a rough ride finding all the "upgrades" and removing them.

 

The fan definitely comes on after the engine warms up, but finding the ground will be on the list of things to do.
It actually runs fairly well but the throttle response is slower then it should be. Cylinders 5 and 7 read about 200 degrees at idle. The other cylinders are 400-500. I have already replaced the fuel injectors to those cylinders. The plugs are new and not fouled when I pull them.

The opti is a likely candidate and was really dirty when I replaced the water pump so it’s next to get replaced as well.