Driving home today the ECT stopped sending a signal to the guage or stopped working all together.

Will the fans work (turn on) without the guage working?

Is there more than one coolant sensor for the VCM besides the one on the drivers side head?

Could this be related to repairing the starter cable today? see below

 

Wow, don't think it's related? I'd look at the ECT wiring/connection first (there's only one sensor). Any codes? Some will turn the fans on when set. Need to get the ECT going cause the PCM uses it for other things too, not just fans. Hopefully it's just a loose ECT connection - if that's not it I'd post this in the PCM section too.