smilin_todd

I'm not sure what is up with my temperature gauge. 99% of the time it reads just above the C mark, doesn't ever read "normal". Yesterday out for a drive and all of a sudden I notice it is about 1/4 of the way into the "normal" range. Somebody told me they thought it was the temperature sending unit, so I replaced that but still doesn't work. The truck seems fine and it puts out hot air in a normal amount of time. What could be wrong, would it still be putting out hot air or running right if the thermostat was bad? It only ever read 1/4 into the "normal" region once.

It is a 1995 Ford F150 with the 5.8 L engine.

Thanks,
Todd

154 Fireman

it is possible if the thermostat is bad. i had a similar problem with mine, changed the thermostat and it came right up to about middle of the normal area. but i still had warm air blowing in mine before i changed it too. never had any running issues. certainly wont hurt anything to change it.

Nitehawkjr

Did you replace the temperature switch or the temperature sensor?

wde3477

As well, consider a bad connection on the instrument panel - try beating on the dash above the panel to see if there is any change.

Another thought is low coolant - sensors meant for liquid don't do so well in air pockets.

Not sure about your model year, but mine has two coolant temperature sensors - one for the gauge and one for the computer. The one for the gauge is up by the thermostat housing and has only one wire.

smilin_todd

Well so far I only changed one, I asked for the temperature sending unit. It was kinda on top of the engine and had two pins. It was just a female connection with sort of a cone that went into the engine.

94centurion

that might have been the switch for a temp light maybe? I was always told a good rule of thumb was that a gauge sender had 1 wire a switch had 2. That ist always true but it is alot of the time.

aliens8mycow

You replaced the coolant temperature sensor. It tells the ECM what temp your engine is running. The coolant temperatur sender is a one wire sender tucked just behind and to the driver's side of the distributor. It threads straight down into the lower intake manifold.

smilin_todd

This is what I bought and replaced already

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...ensor!s!sender

I just bought something similar to this, however its a NAPA part. Is this what is located by the distributor?

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...ensor!s!sender

wde3477

The part shown in your second link is what I remember as being the sensor for the gauge. And yep, it's by the distributor.

Nitehawkjr

Aliens8mycow is right you replaced the temp sensor the temp switch is what works the gauge