Temperature Sender Unit Accuracy

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Sep 17, 2001 | 04:37 PM

Bill W

Thread Starter

Burning Brakes

Joined: Aug 2000

Posts: 1,063

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From: West Chester PA

Temperature Sender Unit Accuracy

The gauge has been running about 210 throughout the summer and was making me a little nervous. So, I stopped at the local radiator shop this past Saturday. They shot the motor in three or four different places with an IR gun. True temp is 165 degrees. I knew that the replacement sender units read high but I never thought it would be 45 degrees off. Needless to say, it eased my mind. Now all I need to do is put a resistor in the line so the gauge shows the true temp. That project now goes to the bottom of the list. So before you go crazy trying to solve overheating problems, check the true temp with an IR gun. The shop didn't charge anything for doing it either. How often does anything associated with the Vette cost nothing?

Sep 17, 2001 | 05:00 PM

427V8

C6 the C5 of tomorrow

Joined: Nov 2000

Posts: 6,665

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From: Twin Cities Minnesota

Re: Temperature Sender Unit Accuracy (Bill W)

Wow thats a Big error!
Where did they measure the temperatures???

Sep 17, 2001 | 05:15 PM

Bill W

Thread Starter

Burning Brakes

Joined: Aug 2000

Posts: 1,063

Likes: 79

From: West Chester PA

Re: Temperature Sender Unit Accuracy (427V8)

They measured the temps at the thermostat housing, the sender unit itself, the radiator return neck and a couple spots on the radiator itself. No more than 5 degrees difference between them. I have a 160 degree thermostat currently. I may change that now that I know what the real engine temp is.

Sep 17, 2001 | 05:32 PM

Corellian Corvette

Drifting

Joined: Aug 1999

Posts: 1,468

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From: Kirkland WA

Re: Temperature Sender Unit Accuracy (Bill W)

Actually, I did the same thing this weekend -- finally got fed up after 4 different sending units. Took it to the local radiator shop, they flushed the system and cleaned the radiator (said it looked fine but wanted to do it anyway) -- he took temp readings and thought the unit was about 40 deg off as well...

Sep 18, 2001 | 12:33 AM

73 LS-4

Melting Slicks

Joined: Jun 2001

Posts: 2,340

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From: Moro IL

Re: Temperature Sender Unit Accuracy (Bill W)

I ended up repairing my original sending unit, becouse I couldn't find any other that would work, they were a pretty consistent 40 degrees high though, if someone knows of an accurate sending unit please let us know.

:cheers:
Pat Kunz

Sep 18, 2001 | 10:33 PM

virtue4u

Team Owner

Joined: Sep 2000

Posts: 65,981

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Re: Temperature Sender Unit Accuracy (73 LS-4)

Don't know of an accurate sender, but on a recent post someone calculated how much of a resistor to connect in parallel to the sender to get a better reading.

Sep 19, 2001 | 10:36 AM

chrled

Heel & Toe

Joined: Aug 2001

Posts: 19

Likes: 0

From: Miami Beach FL

Re: Temperature Sender Unit Accuracy (Bill W)

I have a similar problem with the temp. I live in south florida, have a 79 with edelbrock performer goodies outside aswell as inside. My engine runs just below 220 when it is a normal day but comes over 220 when extreme´hot outside. The autoshop has flushed it and changed the termostat. Could it be that the sender unit is showing errounous information? What do you belive?

/Chris, Ft Lauderdale