Before I rip the dash apart again to wire up the coolant temp sensor, I was wondering if I cant get 12v (ign on) to the sensor ,can I just wire it straight from the sensor to the cluster?

Im going to test TM for power when i get this dash back off.

I think I get what your saying...but im not sure how much voltage the tm wire puts out. I do know that if you ground the single prong cts your gauge should go to full hot. If it does than the gauge and wiring is fine. Let new know if this is what your talking about.

Yeah , im going to ground it out to see if it works, if im not getting power to it , i just want to wire it from the sensor to the dash.

compactfean wrote:im not sure how much voltage the tm wire puts out. I do know that if you ground the single prong cts your gauge should go to full hot. If it does than the gauge and wiring is fine. .

I did test it and it does max out when grounded so it should be good,its getting power ... I think it was 8. ? volts. Im not too skilled as far as elec. theory. I figured that if i put the 12v (ign. on) power to the TM it would start working..lol, that didn't do the trick, so......

Its getting power, I gave it more power, the sensor is new, the gauge works, ( thinking)

No no! The tm is the signal wire for the temp gauge. It already has a power and a ground. Do not put power to the signal wire. But on that note that it does max out when you ground it means that the gauge works. Now you need to check continuity from the tm wire to the single prong cts plug. If you do not have continuity than just run your own wire. If you do have continuity, than the sensor is bad. Do not ask them for a "coolant temp sensor" they will give you the one for the ecu. You want the "thermister" for the cluster.

Ok I understand how it works, But im confused as to what you mean about the name of the sensor vs. the name of of the "thermister". The coolant temp sensor is obviously the sensor with the red cap on the intake manifold which measures the temp and sends a signal to the ecu, the siganl then goes from the ecu to the dash cluster. So whats the thermister? I searched and found its a little black box next to the blower resistor, Whats the deal with this part?

( BRB i'll check the continuity after work)

The coolant sensor your looking for is right next to the computer cts. It only has one wire vs the cts for the ecu is a 2 wire. Just make sure if it is the sensor thats bad that when you buy it its single prong. The coolant temp signal to the cluster does not come from the ecu, it comes from the single prong cts (thermister).

^ This right?

i really cant tell with it plugged in, in that picture but that is the area it would be in. if you unplug it and it looks like a male spade connector thats the one. in the fsm they refer to this part as a thermal transmitter. not a coolant temp sensor if that helps.

Thanks bro, you're the man. Now I can drive without having to worry about overheating

The "coolant temp sensor" is the red connector/ sensor in the pic with two wires. this one is that goes to the ecu. the single prong/wire "thermistor" sends signal to the dash. Good info if you need to wire up your gauges.

So its working? What did you do? Rewire it or replace the sensor.

Not yet, Gonna check for continuity after work today, and if the sensor is working im going to run a wire to the TM.
I'll let you know how it goes.

I checked for continuity and it did have it, I tried to wire it anyway and it didn't work so I kow the sensor is bad. Im going to go buy a new one today afterwork from advance auto parts, which sucks because I just gave away my spare intake mani. with all the extra parts I would need...

The Temperature switch/ sender is what its called at Advance Auto Parts. It was $12.19 and it did fix the problem.


Thank you Compactfean. I may need your help once again if I cant figure out how to get the gauges backround illumination to work, But i'll search first. Again thanks

Haha! Ive tackled that one too, its kind of a pita. Most of the time its the dimmer switch that goes out.

Hope so, i've got two instrument panels and gauge cluster FTW...lol