brobert

I have a 85 2.8 firebird, i can not find the coolant temp sensor. In the book i have it says its on the left side(looking at the engine from the front) of the engine by the thermostate. I looked and looked but it is not there. I have found two sensors on the right side of the intake manafold, one with a red wire and black wire and the other has a yellow wire and a black wire, Someone told me this is my coolant sensor and told me to hook up the sender wire from my gauge to this wire,but when i do the gauge jumps to 250 all the way to the end. Even though my motor wasnt even on all day! I have A fan switch and right now im guessing on when to turn it on. I would REALLY like to get this gauge set up right PLEASE help!!

Dave Y

look on the outside edge of the drivers side cylinder head, at the front corner, I think the 2.8's had it there................it may be hidden by brackets for the a/c or p/s..................I think , when equiped, the fan switch was in the rear outside corner of the pass head

brobert

thankx for the reply Dave, I found the sensor you are talking about, it has one wire coming from it. When i hook the gauge to this wire it reads nothing,stays at 100( where it starts) even after i warm the engine up. this is turning out to be such a head ache, I am 100% sure i have the + and - wires on the gauge correctly connected, its the senor wire i cant get right. So is this sensor missing a wire? or maybe bad?

Dave Y

it may be bad

it should vary resistance to ground with changing temp

if your car originally came with idiot lights, you need a sender for a guage



is this a aftermarket guage?

it may require a aftermarket sender

brobert

yes my car came with the crappy idiot light, Yes the gauge is aftermarket. What kind of sending unit do i need? I didnt think this would be all that hard..

Dave Y

you will need the right sender for that guage

what guage is it, maybe I can find a part number for you

brobert

its a cheap pep boys sunpro gauge, do you think it would be easier to just return it and buy one with the sender and wire included? Thankyou for all your help with this :hail:

Dave Y

I found this at the pep boys site, it may be thje one you need, if you can find it, post the part number of the guage

http://www.7453217467431.com/product...=1063833925921

(or buy one that has everything you need

BoDeaN

You definitely need a sender that will work with your gauge. I recently got an AutoMeter temp gauge from Jegs for about $50 which included a sender and all of the hookups for it. I also got an A-pillar mount for $25 which mounts right up. From what I've read I'm gathering that you are trying to hook up the gauge to your old dummy light sender? How much was the Sunpro?

brobert

The gauge was only $17, the part number is cp 8201. A friend of mine said i shoulda just bought a mechanical gauage, he said he bought his with the a pilar for $50.

BoDeaN

It all depends on the type of gauge you want to go with. I believe that mechanical gauges are more expensive than electric. Don't quote me on that. I got the carbon fiber one and it looks pretty wicked. Good luck!

brobert

I went to walmart today and got a mechanical gauge with all the thread adapt. and all for $10. much easier