Temp sender wire? August 24, 2009, 05:05:32 PM first off, i was put onto this site by a fellow torino brother. EXCELLENT SITE guys! Now, onto the question.This is sorta electrical and sorta engine so moderators, stick it in the electical if you feel it doesnt belong here.The car is an 85 turbo coupe. It has had a V8 swap. As far as i can tell, its an 85 carbureted 5.0 and aod. It runs a '66 289 cast iron 4v intake with a 1" spacer and a 600cfm elec choke holley. its either a t-bird motor or a crown vic. anyways, it still use's thin film ignition. everything is hooked up, works great. found the oil pressure wire and got that hooked up. problem is that i cannot, for the life of me, find the temp sender wire. it does have the coolant temp sensor hooked up. does anyone have a wiring diagram or can ya tell me what other wires the temp sender runs along with? would really like to get it hooked up. do i still need the coolant temp sensor for the computer? i figure i probably do as it probably somehow relates engine temp to ignition timing advance. yes? any ideas? i look forward to being of use on other threads in the future.Thanks,Mike Quote Selected
Temp sender wire? Reply #1 – August 24, 2009, 07:03:46 PM Quote from: mcford;288072first off, i was put onto this site by a fellow torino brother. EXCELLENT SITE guys! Now, onto the question.This is sorta electrical and sorta engine so moderators, stick it in the electical if you feel it doesnt belong here.The car is an 85 turbo coupe. It has had a V8 swap. As far as i can tell, its an 85 carbureted 5.0 and aod. It runs a '66 289 cast iron 4v intake with a 1" spacer and a 600cfm elec choke holley. its either a t-bird motor or a crown vic. anyways, it still use's thin film ignition. everything is hooked up, works great. found the oil pressure wire and got that hooked up. problem is that i cannot, for the life of me, find the temp sender wire. it does have the coolant temp sensor hooked up. does anyone have a wiring diagram or can ya tell me what other wires the temp sender runs along with? would really like to get it hooked up. do i still need the coolant temp sensor for the computer? i figure i probably do as it probably somehow relates engine temp to ignition timing advance. yes? any ideas? i look forward to being of use on other threads in the future.Thanks,MikeI just noticed where mine is yesterday. Look on the intake manifold on the driver's side near the distributor. There is a one wire sensor and IIRC its red with a stripe. Quote Selected
Temp sender wire? Reply #2 – August 24, 2009, 09:02:50 PM Temp sender is a red wire with a white stripe and the oil pressure is a white wire with a red stripe... Ford has used that color combo since the 60s or earlier...Timing is advanced by the computer, if it's gone you have only the initial advance... If it's still there, It's likely in the total failure mode(Ford has a name for this but it escapes me at the moment) which locks the timing to a slight advance... Quote Selected
Temp sender wire? Reply #3 – August 24, 2009, 09:22:56 PM initial is set at 15 degrees with the spout connector out. limp mode is what chrysler calls it, most likely ford calls it the same.should have mentioned, i know the color codes, just cant find a red w/white tracer anywhere. looks like its time to dig into and remove the convoluted tubing and dig.thanks. Quote Selected
Temp sender wire? Reply #4 – August 26, 2009, 08:31:38 PM update - found the temp sender wire. they had the coolant temp sensor plug spliced onto it. i decided to just dive in and start pulling the convulted tubing off everything to find what they did. and thats what i found. they had the temp sender wire (red w/ white tracer) and a black w/ white tracer whire hooked up to the coolant temp sensor plug. it looks like the bkack w/ white IS one of the wires for the coolant temp sensor, judging by the wires coming off of that plug. the other is a green wire.so, the temp sender IS just a single wire, correct? just like all the older fords? seems all the parts stores keep coming up with a 2 post (threaded post) semp sender. to find a single post i have to go mustang. i keep having problems with the engine bay wiring diagram loading up from foxthundercats.net. eec diagram pops right up no problem.thanks for all the help guys.Mike Quote Selected
Temp sender wire? Reply #5 – August 27, 2009, 03:37:47 PM I believe the Fords generally use a single wire sender for the gauge, at least that's what is in the '87 5.0 harness I now have in my TC... The ECU temp sensor does have two wires...Ford called their limp mode FMEM(failure mode effects management)... Yeah it's a screwed up name... Quote Selected
Temp sender wire? Reply #6 – August 27, 2009, 06:59:18 PM thanks man, got the single post sensor at work today and putting it in tonight.Mike Quote Selected
Temp sender wire? Reply #7 – August 28, 2009, 10:30:33 PM ok, now this is REALLY weird. put the single post in, temp gauage showed 2 bars at the bottom and 2 at top, blank in the middle. ok. find a second red w/ white wire with the end cut off, does same thing to gauge as the other wire. so, today i grab the two post one from work. install & nothing. no matter how both red w/ white wires are hooked up. so, i take the single post, pop the wire with connector end onto the sender. set it in the little "triangle" between coolant cross over and runenr for cyl #5. it starts getting wamr and gauge starts to work. ok... so, i take it off of there and place it in the top of the t-stat housing, where there is cast depression for them to drill/tap for a temp sensor/ported vac switch/whatever. sender starts warming up, gauge works. so, now its like WTH?? pull 2 post sender out of intake, put in single post, connect wire and start car. gauge shows two bars at the bottom and two at the top. what in the hell is going on??? i really wanted the stock gauges to work but i'm about done messing with this. i will probably go with two electronic gauges, one for oil press and one for temp, make a gauge panel to go in where the EQ is and be done with it. Quote Selected
Temp sender wire? Reply #8 – August 29, 2009, 01:56:41 AM The two bars on top and two on bottom means the sensor is FUBAR'd or that you have the wrong type. It took me 7 tried to get the right sensor from anyone about 6 years ago in my 86 with digi dash. Quote Selected
Temp sender wire? Reply #9 – August 29, 2009, 07:26:34 AM and its just a single post, correct?Thanks,Mike Quote Selected
Temp sender wire? Reply #10 – August 29, 2009, 05:10:22 PM I'll go out to my 87 5.0 bird with digi dash and take a picture in the next couple hours. Quote Selected
Temp sender wire? Reply #11 – August 29, 2009, 05:49:15 PM thanks. today i swapped out the single post that 90% of fords use for just about the only other one listed. didnt work. didnt do the 2 bar top 2 bar bottom like the other. just one bar on the bottom and nothing. why would the supposd "correct" one not work when the body is grounded?? that has to be whats happening as again i took the normal single post and set the tip into one of the threaded boss's on the intake, the outer body part was sitting on the painted part. gauge worked. and this is the same sender that was installed in the intake and the gauge was messed up. friggin twilight zone! lol!oh, and when i got the two part numbers they listed at the dealer, they both cross to the same wells number. wtf is up with that?? that MAY be the problem! just may have to pony up for a motorcraft unit although the wells units have worked on ALL my other old fords. Quote Selected
Temp sender wire? Reply #12 – September 01, 2009, 09:16:12 PM ok, tried both motorcraft sending units (one had a green insulator for the post, the other a red insulator) and niether worked if the body of it was grounded. since this has the full digital cluster and it didnt come with one, maybe they did soemthing with the wireharness behind the cluster? anyways, looking for a turbo coupe cluster to install back in place of this digital. if nothing reasonable comes up in the next month, i'll just add a pillar pod and put an electric temp and oil presure gauge up there.thanks for all the help guys. Quote Selected
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