Okay, so I was driving and my temp gauge just died on me. After looking around at things, I discovered that the connecter had come off the sensor. Upon further observation, I discovered that the flat prong had broken off the sensor and was stuck inside the connector. No big deal, but this is where it gets interesting. I go to the store and have them look up and bring out the new sensor, and it's different. Basically what happened here, is the previous owner had the car with a 5.0, and decided to pull it and have the 5.7 installed. Apparently, the mechanic installed all of the old sensors from the old motor in the new engine and hooked it all up that way, without changing sensors or connectors. So a couple of questions. 1. Will it hurt to just use the 5.0 sensor/connector setup, or do I need to put in the 5.7 and change the connector? 2. The connector on the current setup only has one wire going to it, and the sensor that should be in the car is a two prong connector. Where in the heck is that second wire supposed to be coming from? Thanks.

 

2 things, first: are you reffering to the sensor thats up on the manifold? (we have more than one sensor for our coolant) Secondly, i was under the impression that 5.7 uses the same sensors as a 5.0, i dont see why not because everytime ive gone to get a part they group the 5.0 and the 5.7 in the same category unless it has to deal with internals, also if he did a swap did the ecm get swapped>? that could have been a reason he used the old sensors thinking it would help

 

Agreed. The parts store is looking up the "coolant temperature sensor" (2-prong) instead of the "temperature gage sender" (1-prong).

There is no difference 305 vs. 350.