Ok.. Land.. if you have the single terminal sender you will be fine. You just need to locate the correct dark green wire to attach to it.

On you car there will be a single green wire that hooks to the terminal in the lower picture. You will also have one on top the intake that will have two wire connector on it and both are green.... That was for the TCS sender and not what you need.

If you installed the sender and only put Teflon tape on the first three threads (remember Teflon tape is on used as a lubricant so the NPT threads will mate tighter, it is not a sealant so only use on the first three threads).

If you have it installed as mentioned then you should get an ohm's reading from the sender. If you turn on the key.. without any ohms input the dash unit should go to cool.... If you find the correct wire and you ground this wire out.. the dash unit will go to full hot! This will also help you ID the correct green wire.

To test the sender... you do this by putting your multi-meter on the 200 ohms setting.. Touch the hot to the terminal and the ground to the block and if you get a reading then all you need is the correct green wire from the dash unit.

Hope this helps..

Willcox

 

If you grounded it out it should have pegged hot! I don't think you have the correct green wire in the engine compartment.

 

Sounds like Im going to be tracing a green wire out tomorrow!

Thanks willcox for all the help, I do appreciate it.

 

okay I took a ohms reading and observed 169ohms, I had been running the engine a little and the after market temp gauge read around 160 degrees. Looks like the sender is good. find the green wire I shall.

Thanks again!

 

I did not use any teflon tape as the instructions with sender said not to because it would affect grounding of sender housing.

 

Next time.. use it on the first three or four threads.. it helps the sender seat better....

Do you have a schematic? The green wire breaks out of the harness by the distributor if I remember right. Just look for one that will make the gauge go full hot when grounded out.

 

I do have a schematic, but I do not have a factory harness. The p.o. hax spliced and hacked up the original to the point I had to replace it. Bought it off eBay. All of the other wires work fine.

 

Since the car is a bit on the custom side it may be easier to just handle this issue this way....It will keep you from looking for the correct wire....

Ok.. 2 things..

1) Just making sure but right now, with the key on and nothing else hooked up to the gauge it should be reading cool.... with the key on and with power and ground you should be able to ground the top terminal (ohms) at the gauge to obtain a pegged hot reading.

2) If 1 is true, yes the gauge is working.. it has power and ground and only needs ohms. Run a wire direct from the sender to the ohms connector on the back of the gauge. The picture below will show you the correct terminal.

You don't need to run this through the fuse box since it is just an ohms wire.

 

There is hardly any difference at all from head to your location on the intake. I heard it was 15-20...fan switch came on at 185 was worried I was running 210-220....Put an analog in the head guess what....within a few degrees tops Id bet 5 or less.

 

Thanks Willcox and everyone else for all the help!
I ran a new wire as suggested and all is right with the world!, factory gauge reads very close to what the a.m. gauge in the intake is reading.

Time to let that bored 454 purr!

 

good deal..

 

You said "I tried adding pusher fans to help keep it cool in traffic. It didn't help. "

- Air in system still

- Get an IR heat gun and see what kind of temps at idle in the driveway you are getting along with cold and watch for opening of the thermostat with a temp spike. Goes up to and over the set point, opens and the temp drops.

- Pull the plugs and clean them off then run the car for a few miles in town and again pull several from each bank and read them to see how you are running - lean or rich, bet on lean

- Ck timing to make sure you are advanced a decent amount or maybe set it to stock specs for a test.

- Ck to make sure you are advancing both mechanically with vacuum advance pulled and capped, and with the vacuum advance. Ck total timing to see what initial, mechanical and vacuum advance you are gettng. No advance in traffic -- will run hot.

- could you have possibily put in the wrong water pump? Reverse rotation?

- Collapsed lower radiator hose when hot, have the spring inside the hose??

- Do you puke coolant when you run in the driveway with the cap off and fully warmed up and reving the engine? If so, have a radiator shop ck for exhaust gas in the coolant -- just maybe you have a bad head gasket letting exhaust gas into the coolant

Just some ideas of chasing cooling problems on a C3, been there and done all and probably had all. Good luck.


How did my post get into this thread. Read a post on cooling in traffic and bam - it ends up in a thread on a sensor. Strange Anyway glad Wilcox helped out.