well heres the deal:

My coolant temp guage does not read. just stays under cold, but i did notice before i did do my head gasket, that when my engine was overheating the need would be just above the Cold line. anyways, i am told that there is an actual coolant temperature sensor.. then theres the sending unit. which do i replace in order to get my guage working? the sensor? or the sending unit? pretty sure its the sending unit, just double checking.

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bumppp

 

uh, that would actually take some voltage tests, like with a dvom. so, the temp gauge was NOT working before you replaced the head gasket? if it was overheating with the needle still at cold, then its definitely the sending unit or the sensor, or maybe even the wires. like i said though, that takes a voltmeter. however, your thermostat might be stuck open. but if i understand correctly, your engine was overheating. how do you even know your engine was overheating?

 

well i know it was overheating because coolant was over flowing out of the bottle and was running like ****. but i did the thermostat when i did the head gasket so thats out of the question.

 

bump.... anybody know? to get the gauge working do i need to replace the sending unit or the sensor its self?

 

thanks for all the great help guys

 

there's a temp sensor and a thermoswitch. the temp sensor is for the gauge, the switch is for the fan. the sensor for the temp gauge is under the distributor....it's a little single wire plug. it could either be that or a bad gauge cluster....you'd have to run some tests on the back of the cluster to see what's bad.

 

thanks ejcivic.

i know its not the guage cluster because when my old motor was in, the temp gauge worked. and when my current motor was in the original car, that gauge didnt work.

sooooo i'm guessing its the single wire sensor

 

yep...it's not even really a "plug"...it's just a black cap. the sensor itself just has a little plug sticking off that looks like the end of a headphone jack or something.

 

yeah i think i know what your talking about. its kind of like an over sized needle with a plug on it.

anyways, thanks for the help