1983 Bronco II, 351w
My temp gauge reads full tilt hot, when I bought it.
I bought a new sending unit and it still reads the same.

Anyone see this or have a suggestion?

Thnx

 

Is this reading immediately upon start up or key on?

 

Good question, if it's only pegged hot with the key on, remove the connector from the sender dont let it touch metal. If the gauge is still pegged look for a bare spot in the wire thats grounded to metal.

 

After the replacement, I only turned the key on and waited 10 sec. I didn't not actually start it up.
Will start to confirm.

 

So, I plugged the wire onto the other post and still it does not work correctly. Temp just always reads full tilt hot or nearly. Every once in awhile, it'll move a tiny bit.

 

Might be different on yours, but most Fords have a 2 "post" engine coolant temp sensor that gives temp info to the computer.

And most Fords have a single post single wire coolant temp sender for the gauge. The wire is usually red with a white stripe.

Whats this second post you're talking about??

 

The old unit and the new one as well, both have 2 posts down inside the top. It had only one wire running to it. With the old one, I tried switching the wire to the other post and back again, no work. So I bought a new unit and tried the same thing, no work. Should there be 2 wires running to it?
Thanks.

 

[QUOTE=87 XLT;15768961]Good question, if it's only pegged hot with the key on, remove the connector from the sender dont let it touch metal. If the gauge is still pegged look for a bare spot in the wire thats grounded to metal.[/QUOTE

Does the gauge read cold when the wire is not connected to anything?

And yes it sounds like you have the wrong sender and need the single "post" temp gauge sending unit.

 

Thank you, will try these out when I get the truck back from the body shop.