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Temp Guage/ Fan temp sensor?

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Old Oct 9, 2012 | 09:15 PM
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Default Temp Guage/ Fan temp sensor?

I am looking to find out where people have been putting there senders for their temp gauges and then where do you put the sender for the electric fans. I was trying to use my electric temp gauge sender for my fans temp sensor as well. I am not sure if the sender that was supplied with my electric fans is necessary or not. I am not too educated on electronics so understanding how things work for me usually takes a lot of trial and error.
Suggestions or details on what works? I am running the holley hp efi harness, sun pro gauges(electrical temp), and my radiator/dual fan combo came with its own wiring harness. Each head has been used already for the engine harness and the temp gauge Help!
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Old Oct 9, 2012 | 09:22 PM
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I am waiting for my radiator to come in and on Dillon Radiator,s suggestion was to put a 3/8 pipe thread bung in the radiator near the lower outlet. He said that would work for the supplied sending unit. It switches on at 185 and shuts down at 170. My thought was that this is on the cooled side of the radiator and may or may not be a problem for accurate engine temp readings.
Thoughts?
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Old Oct 10, 2012 | 02:29 PM
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Mine is in the heater inlet hose, near the water pump. The mounting config has changed since I took the pic (aluminum L-bracket not needed and replaced with a ground wire)

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Old Oct 10, 2012 | 08:07 PM
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Thanks for the response, its nice to see what others have done.
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Old Oct 10, 2012 | 09:31 PM
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My sender is in the rear of the passenger head. Switch for fan in drivers front of head
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Old Oct 10, 2012 | 09:47 PM
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Originally Posted by dmracing
My sender is in the rear of the passenger head. Switch for fan in drivers front of head
I have another one in the passenger head too (can be seen in the pic). This was for the Holley Commander EFI which I've since removed. Good location for one.
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Old Oct 10, 2012 | 11:57 PM
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Temperature gauge sensor in the passenger head. Fan managed by the computer. Computer get's its reading from the driver side head.

Pat
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Old Oct 11, 2012 | 12:03 AM
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I have not looked into the holley efi harness's capability to control the fans. It would be nice to avoid another switch/sender.
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Old Oct 11, 2012 | 02:50 AM
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I drilled and tapped a hole in the water pump where it's flat for a different style upper hose neck
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Old Oct 11, 2012 | 04:47 AM
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I have a mechanical guage sender in back passenger head and computer sensor in driver front. My fan turns on with the key.
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Old Oct 11, 2012 | 08:45 AM
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Originally Posted by LS2GS
I have not looked into the holley efi harness's capability to control the fans. It would be nice to avoid another switch/sender.
It should, mine did. Unfortunately, I could never get the IAC motor to behave, so I pulled it and put on a carb. The newer Holley stuff should hopefully be better. The commander 950 was a pain.
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Old Oct 11, 2012 | 10:13 AM
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You should be able to adapt the stock sensor from the old motor to the LS. That way your stock gauge should work like it always did. Lots of places to put the stock sensor. The M12x1.5 thread int he head for the LS sensor is smaller than most sensors. Lots of guys drill the head out to 3/8 NPT. If that doesn't appeal to you then there is tapping into the water pump, splicing a fitting into an heater or radiator hose, or putting a fitting into the freeze plug on the end of the head.

In my case I drilled and tapped a 1/2 NPT fitting into the brass block heater plug. There is one on either side of the motor. You can fit just about anything down there.

For fan control I use a $35 dereale adjustable fan switch with a radiator fin probe. Works fine once I JB welded the probe to the radiator. I would rather have a temp switch that screws right to the head, but no one makes one that fits the metric thread.
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Old Oct 11, 2012 | 10:22 AM
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Old Oct 12, 2012 | 10:46 AM
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Here's some thoughts based on my experience as a cooling systems engineer.

Mounting the sensor on the last stop to the radiator gives a true reading of the engine out temp, and the fan can be turned on/off accordingly. Keeping your engine-out temp constant is a good way to maintain the durability of the engine. Keeping engine out temp high ensures less heat transfer to the coolant-which in turn enables better HP and better rad performance(less fan usage).

If the sensor is located say, before the heads, and it reads 170, then if you are at idle, the engine out temp may just be 175 or 180. but if you are at WOT 6k, engine out temp may be 210-220. Simple fan controlers don't have predictive capabilities based on rpm/load.

I'm not saying mounting before the heads is bad, just want people to be aware that if you have fan-on at 210, engine out temp may be overtemped.
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Old Oct 12, 2012 | 11:42 AM
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Originally Posted by JetMech442
Here's some thoughts based on my experience as a cooling systems engineer.

Mounting the sensor on the last stop to the radiator gives a true reading of the engine out temp, and the fan can be turned on/off accordingly. Keeping your engine-out temp constant is a good way to maintain the durability of the engine. Keeping engine out temp high ensures less heat transfer to the coolant-which in turn enables better HP and better rad performance(less fan usage).

If the sensor is located say, before the heads, and it reads 170, then if you are at idle, the engine out temp may just be 175 or 180. but if you are at WOT 6k, engine out temp may be 210-220. Simple fan controlers don't have predictive capabilities based on rpm/load.

I'm not saying mounting before the heads is bad, just want people to be aware that if you have fan-on at 210, engine out temp may be overtemped.
I agree with you 100%. Good info! I would recommend that the fan should kick on at a much cooler temp if the sensor/swich is before the head.
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Old Oct 13, 2012 | 07:48 AM
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Originally Posted by JetMech442
Here's some thoughts based on my experience as a cooling systems engineer.

Mounting the sensor on the last stop to the radiator gives a true reading of the engine out temp, and the fan can be turned on/off accordingly. Keeping your engine-out temp constant is a good way to maintain the durability of the engine. Keeping engine out temp high ensures less heat transfer to the coolant-which in turn enables better HP and better rad performance(less fan usage).

If the sensor is located say, before the heads, and it reads 170, then if you are at idle, the engine out temp may just be 175 or 180. but if you are at WOT 6k, engine out temp may be 210-220. Simple fan controlers don't have predictive capabilities based on rpm/load.

I'm not saying mounting before the heads is bad, just want people to be aware that if you have fan-on at 210, engine out temp may be overtemped.
And yet LS motors moved the thermostat to the water inlet....

Note sure I agree with your logic. If the radiator is dropping the coolant temp down near the thermostat setting then turning the fan on isn't accomplishing anything. It would seem to me setting the fan temp to keep the water just before the thermostat about 10° hotter then the thermostat setting is the way to go.

I'll have to think about this more.
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