Well when doing my pacesetter LT install I managed to break the original temp. sensor. I replaced it with one from autozone and as soon as I start the car up the gauge pretty much goes straight to 260. I opened the radiator afterwards and the coolant was still cool enough for me to touch. I also saw coolant moving with the radiator cap open while the engine was running. Do you guys think it is a junk sensor or something else? Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

Or the connector/pigtail.

Better chance of it being the actual sensor though.

 

Wrong sensor.

 

They probably gave you the sensor that goes in the water pump.

 

The sensor in the head goes to the computer and the sensor in the pump goes to the guage... might wanna make sure there's no air in the lines or anything.

 

Probably the wrong sensor or something. You should make sure the wire isn't broken or anything.

 

I thought it was vice-versa. The head sensor goes to the gauge and the pump sensor goes to the PCM.

 

You are correct.

 

Ok, I replaced the sensor in the head again with one from O'Reilly auto parts which is still the borg warner brand and the same thing is still happening. My fans aren't kicking on either even when I turn my ac on. Do you guys think the lines need to be bled? If so how do I bleed them? When I changed out the sensor in the head a good bit of coolant came out. Thanks for all your replies.

 

Bled the lines and it's still overheating. The fans aren't kicking on either. I did go to shoebox's website and tried shorting pins 5 and 6 on the DTC plug with the key on and the fans kick on, so it's not a relay or a fuse. Anyone have any clues?

 

Come on guys I really want to fix this so I can do a couple wot runs with the new headers. Any help is appreciated.

 

Ttt

 

Does it go to 260(max) with just the key on and the engine is cool? What happens when you disconnect the wire that goes to the sensor on the head, does it go to 260 also? Maybe the wire got cut somewhere if thats the case or maybe the wire went bad(like bending a paper clip too many times). The wire could be bad inside of the connector too.

 

If the circuit is "open" = high or infinite resistance = cut in wire, burned out sensor, no ground (do not use tape or non-conductive sealer on the threads), etc, the gauge will read at the very bottom. If the sensor or the wire is shorted to ground = low resistance, the gauge will read at the very top.

Have you checked to see if the thermostat is working? If its closed, you'll heat up the coolant in the head, showing high on the gauge, but you might not have hot enough coolant at the sensor in the water pump for the PCM to turn a fan on (226degF).


It would be helpful if you could describe the problem in terms of what the gauge does time vs. temperture, since "pretty much goes straight to 260" could be interpreted in a couple different ways.

 

Thats my problem, the gauge shows high temp(it will go up to 260 if i let the car sit) but the computer temp sensor reads 200 if i let the car sit. I measured the resistance on the sensors this morning and they were about the same, 2.7Kohms and 2.44kohms(gauge sensor). If i drive around, both temps are about the same.

Has Hypertech 160-degree t-stats been known to go bad, like less than 500 miles?