Where is this thing located??? A pic would help.... I've got a 350 TPI... thanks in advance....

 

CTS sensor is located on the front of the block under the throttle body. It is to the left of the coolant hose that goes to the throttle body.

 

Note: Coolant temp sensor is what the computer uses. It has nothing to do with your gauge. The temp gauge sending unit is located towards the front outside of driver side head.

 

Ok, now straighten me out here.

My guage messed up and wouldn't register any temp. went to autozone, and got a sensor for the guage, and replaced the one at the front of the engine, under the hose that goes to the tb. it fixed my guage??? y is this??? is mine just messed up...or what. My book said the same thing you did...but the ONLY sensor on the car that resembled the one that i got...was the MAT sensor (cuz it's located on my plenum and is a metal one, i'm not sure about the connector of it, but the end looked like it) and the one that i replaced. This was well over 3 weeks ago when i replaced the piece, and my temp GUAGE has not faultered since. When i replaced that one part...the guage immediately worked again.

btw...i am not trying to call you or anyone else a liar. I just want to figure out if my engine is a freak or not....because my manual said the same as you did. This was the first time i came across an indescrepency for my engine against the manual or messed with my temp guage sensor.


i have an 89 formula 350 tpi....for the most part stock...just a few bolt ons.
thanx for any help u can give.

 

Ok Guys, Can a Bad Sensor cause overheating??? my Gauge has never worked, im not too sure thow to tell if its bad, i just swapped my DAMN DAMN, heater core, lol, you can tell my feelings on that....

anyways, i swapped heater core, and i think they might have messed up my thermostat, but it didnt overheat at idle, and it idled with the Ac on without over heating, (for once) before the car wouldnt over heat unless ac was on, now it overheats for anything.

any ideas guys?

 

Pheonix, how many wires did the sensor you replaced have? CTS will have 2 wires with a weatherproof connector, gauge sender has a single wire.

 

The one i replaced is exactly as you described. 2 wires, weatherproof connector. Ironically, when i went to a parts store to get a new one, i specifically asked for the one that goes to the guage. Every time i asked a place for it, they gave me the same thing.....

keep in mind, this also fixed my problem. (the guage stopped working)

 

Must have just been a coincidence that it started working, because they are separate units. BTW the CTS sensor and the MAT sensor are the same part number and can be interchanged.

The gauge sending unit is located in the drivers side head, between the #1 and #3 spark plug and has a single wire. While you were working on other things, you could have jiggled the wire and made contact. You also said you couldnt find it.... check again and see if there is anything in the head location. You have me wondering if you have some different setup now.

 

Ok, i will check it tomorrow and take some pictures, cuz sometimes a picture says a thousand words. Who knows, it was probably right there, and i just missed the damn thing cuz i couldn't see it. hehe

btw...thanx for replying about this, even though its not my thread..and i do appologize for kinda taking over this thread. it was just these r very similar. But i would like to figure this out, because i would liek to replace the proper sending unit on my car (as the fans are hooked up to a manual switch and i CAN'T just not know the temp on my car.....that would be VERY bad news.) so that this doesn't happen again.

 

Its all good 350... I learned something too from your question... so everyone comes out a winner :-)

 

Can anyone post a pic with the damn thing circled? Even with all of the descriptions and stuff, plus a (useless as a dead dog's dick) haynes manual, I can't seem to find it... The only thing similar is about half again the size of the replacement I got today (its an OEM part, so I know it's right...)???

 

I will try to get pics of both of them up this weekend.I have a cheesy little digital camera,but it takes pretty good pics.I also thougt the one on the front of the engine went to the gauge,but now that you mention it,when I bought it I did ask for a temperature sensor unit and not a temp gauge sensor and that is where they said it went,in the front.At the time I thought that was why my fans were coming on at such a high temp,wich was actually the fan switch that had nothing wrong with it anyway,it is made to come on at a high temp.BTW that one is,I believe,in the head between the back two cylinders on the passenger side.I replaced mine with one that comes on at a lower temp but it was so long ago I dont remeber if it was in the block or the head,I think it was in the head though.

 

Do you have to remove the alternator to get at it? If so, I MIGHT have found it, but removing the alternator seems pretty extreme for a "quick and easy" fix that takes "10 min".

 

Should not have to remove alt. The easiest way to identify it is it will have one wire only(green wire most models) with a non weatherproof connector. Mine slides on sideways instead of plugging straight in. The high side of this is that usually the guage sender in not bad, every one I have seen with a problem has been a bad connection of burnt wire because of it's proximity the the exhaust manifold. Chances are that you will find the connector is probably rusty or corroded as evidenced by the fact that it is started working. LOL

 

I found it. Vader helped (different thread). Some mechanic covered it with a wire guard all the way up to the block, and it looked IDENTICAL to the coolant hoses... Till I pulled.


Thanks, all!

 

Temp. gauge sensor/sender (100% non-ECM related).

 

9th injector sensor/timer (red arrow.. pink & tan wires.. later years don't have this) & directly next to it (couldn't quite get a pic of it..)

Coolant temp sensor (blue arrow). This is 100% non-gauge related. Most standard colors for the CTS wires are yellow & black.

 

anyone got the part number for the cts (guage one)? i have a carbed 350 in my iroc