Has anyone put in an aftermarket water temp guage? If so how did they do it? Did you just remove the stock sensor and put in the aftermarket, did you put a t-flange in and use both or did you place the aftermarket sensor in a different location. I am asking because where i think the sensor is, it is right below the throttle body and there isnt much room to work with.

so any help/ideas or pictures would be great.

thanks

 

There are two coolant temperature sensors in that area: one with a single wire, one with two. The two-wire sensor is the input to the PCM; the single wire is for the temp gauge.

It might be a problem if you tee in because you will almost certainly get a bubble in that high spot. The sensors need to be in contact with the coolant to register correctly.

 

will i get an error(CEL) if i remove the single wire temp sensor?

I also thpught but have no idea if it would work but, waht if i just taped off my stock sensor wire and ran that to the aftermarket. any chance that would work?

 

There is no OBDII CEL associated with the single-wire sending unit but there is one for the two-wire coolant temp sensor.

If you disconnect the factory gauge wire from the single pin sending unit, you MAY get a CHECK GAGE light. I'm not sure how the monitoring works. You could pop the connector off and start the engine to find out.

 

thanks bob, ill give it a try when i get home tonight.

what do you think about the idea of the stock guage and aftermarket guage sharing the same sensor?

 

Assuming that the sending units for the two gauges have the same electrical calibration (unlikely), you would be able to run the aftermarket gauge directly off the Ford sending unit.

I doubt that you could get both gauges working properly by simply teeing them together in parallel off the same sending unit.

BTW, why do you want to replace the factory gauge? The Ranger cooling system is quite adequate and the factory temp gauge seems repeatable and reliable.

 

i am replacing it because i want to get an e-fan, and i have read that you can adjust the e-fan for it kick on and off better. (prolly a waste/bad idea)

but the more that i have looked into this and after i have bought the guages i am thinking that it isnt going to be worth it. trouble is i cant return them because my dogs tore up the package when it was delivered a few weeks ago. so i may as well put them in. all in all it was only 100 bucks and next time i am going to look into my next item i buy a little better.

it sounded like a good idea at one time.lol

 

If I had a nickel for every thing I did that "sounded good at the time"....I'd have enough money to buy my RCD lift....sigh....

 

I think we've all been there - I know I have.

 

I used a scan tool to read coolant temp and adjusted my e-fan that way. It is a good idea to set the threshold to come on far enough above the temp at which the thermostat opens to prevent unnecessary running of the fan, so I agree with the thrust of your effort.

However, most water temp gauges, unless digital, will not give you the resolution you need to do a good job on this adjustment.

I think you can do a reasonable job just by turning your efan to it's LEAST sensitive postion, then start your truck and let it warm up. After the top radiator hose gets hot and STAYS hot , let your truck run (maybe for 5 to 10 minutes) until you can see the temp gauge has moved up a tiny bit. Then carefully and slowly adjust your efan controller until it come on.

I haven't tried it that way, but it seems like it would do a reasonable job.

 

Hey Zach, i need a water temp guage for the "lil ****" the project stang, so if you plan on selling it, my friend would prob buy it..

 

i never looked at the how to install on the site, so im prolly going to use it unless i get a check gauge light tonight, otherwise if i get one ill let you know, because i will prolly sell it.