ok guys
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 76
Likes: 1
ok guys the famous 3 wire sender switch what ever it is im getting a new after just putting a 5.3 in my car and my coolant temp gauge quit working before that so im replaceing the coolant temp sender and if my guage doesnt work i need some one to tell me if i can use an auto meter gauge to tap into my 3 wire sender from now old gauge if not tell me what i can do and i dont wont to drill any holes in the passanger side head or nothing so nothing like that thanks and i dont need no one with a smart comment just looking for help
First you need to be sure you are running the correct sending unit, they work off resistance, and if you have a 5.3 swap there may be a possibility that the sending unit is not compatible. If thats not the case then replace the pigtail, if that does not fix it, you need to ohm the wires back to the pcm and make sure they are not shorted. If the wires are good, it may actually be the gauge, if thats the case you can hook the car up to a scanner that has live data, and it will tell you what the pcm sees for temp. If it shows good, then you know its the gauge, to go afternarket, you dont need to drill, you need an adapter that goes from the water jacket hole size, to 1/8npt, I cant remember what the head size is, its like a 12mm something. You can put the afternarket gauge on the other head, just remove the plug. I would not run without the oem sending unit working, I believe the pcm uses it for a reference. Hope this helps.
Ronnie
Ronnie
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 76
Likes: 1
yes i will be using the correct sending unit for sure and im pretty sure my gauge is messed up but not to sure but any ways on my swap nothing has changed but the motor so the connectors and all is the same so no worrys their and i will trace the wires down to see if any wires are messed up so what your saying u wouldnt tap into the wire already for the gauge
Not too sure what you are asking,, are you wanting to try and use your original pigtail to try and hook up to a new aftermarket gauge? No I would not do that,, most all autometer electric water temp gauges only have 1 wire going to the sending unit, that wire goes to the guage,, also on the guage is a ground wire a switched positive wire, and another wire for the lights. The stock pigtail is designed for the OEM sending unit. You would not want to pull anything off of it. Also like I stated I would make sure that the oem gauge is working correctly, I am almost certain that the pcm uses those temp readings to help control the engine.
