Coolant temp sender?

[Chris]

Hey guys, I'm wiring up my gauges and last minute odds and ends. I will be running an Auto meter electric coolant temp gauge to keep a closer eye on my investment but I really don't want to have a dead gauge in my instrument cluster. I don't care if its entirely accurate, I just want it to work. Problem is, I've used all my threaded coolant ports in my lower intake. In the Explorer lower intake I have the ECT sensor and the Auto meter sender, and in my T-stat housing I have the sender for my cooling fan controller. Anybody have any suggestions or ideas on where to mount the sender for the stock gauge?

[cgrey8]

Best I can think of is come up with a 1/2" or so pipe with a fitting welded into it. Then install that inline with the heater core.

[Chris]

Huh, that's a good idea. I didn't even think of mounting it in the heater hose. Thanks!

[plowboy34]

Thats about the only way without drilling and tapping. Unless you can find a port in the block somewhere accessible.

[Grumpy]

or.... he can get some brass fittings the size he needs and "build" a T and put it in the intake or T-stat housing and put 2 of them in it .... i have done that b4 too ....it looks bulky but it does work !!!

or he can go here and get this .. its MADE for such a thing...

http://autometer.com/cat_accessorieslist.aspx?pid=40

[Chris]

I was looking for a V8 tach at the salvage yard and I was looking around at all the other vehicles just to see what I could find when I stumbled on this. It came from a '93 2.3L Mustang. I'm going to check the resistance values at increasing temps, if the values line up with my stock sender, I'll keep the two wire sensor. If the values are different, I'll replace the sensor with my stock sender and run a ground wire.

[v8ranger]

I would think there would be a plug in the block somewhere that you can take out that you could use... It would be more accurate, I would think...

[Teddyzee]

My vote is drill and tap the DS rear of the lower intake, that what I did. (efan, dash gauge, Autometer gauge, in the lower Fr/Rr and thermostat housing)

[Chris]

Drill and tap would be my first choice also if my intake wasn't already installed. I wasn't planning on running the auto meter gauge at the time. It was given to me after everything was already assembled and installed in the truck and I didn't feel like pulling the intake back off. Thanks for all the tips guys!

[MalcolmV8]

Few options, I've done it a number of ways over the years. Since this is just a stock gauge you're probably not to concerned with exact placement for best reading of coolant temp.
Drilling and tapping the intake of course works well but not very practical at all if you're already installed the intake.

On the 4.6 mod motor blocks there's a threaded coolant plug just behind the driver's side motor mount in the block. Thread it out and put a sensor in there. I don't recall seeing such a bolt on the 302 blocks though.

T-stat housing is another good place. I've pulled those and just welded an aluminum bung on there. Downside if this was more important is you only see temp after the t-stat opens. No big deal in your case.

Another very easy and nice way is to get a short stub of exhaust pipe the same diameter as the inside of your radiator hose and weld a bung in it and put the sensor in there. Then just splice the lower radiator hose (lower so it's out of sight) and put it in there. Remember to run a ground wire to that insert as well so the circuit is not grounded through the coolant/radiator.

Here's a few pics of a t-stat mod I recently did on a different project car

[v8ranger]

You can also go buy a new t-stat housing for a 90's 5.0 and it will have a plug in it that you can remove and put your sensor in..

[Teddyzee]

He already has as sender in the thermostat housing.
You could always replace the fan temp sender with one of those probes that sits in the rad

I guess by now we could have pulled the intake and had a beer, lol!

[Chris]

Lol, yea I could have had the intake off and back on by now! I'm going to mout the sender in the heater hose 'T' from that mustang and run a ground wire from the housing. I was also considering replacing the OBD 2 PCM with one that has cooling fan control built in. I'm at a stopping point right now due to work. Hoping to get back to it in the next week or so.