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Hey there, I just bought a 1982 ford150 4x4 with a 351w. I checked all the fuses and went through the wires but i am stuck at what to do now. Should I pull the temp sensor and replace it or should I pull the dash off and rewire some stuff? I also have no idea where to start with the tachometer.
Congratulations on your purchase and welcome to the forum.
Most likely the tach and temp gauge issues are two separate problems. Can you please elaborate on what they are doing? Are they both dead? Reading high or low?
Does your truck also have an oil pressure gauge or an idiot light? If it has the gauge, does it seem to work properly? How about the fuel gauge?
Wiring diagram are here. See page 58 for the gauges:
Soon you will meet Dave. He will tell you to put all your trust in a $15 set of Fling Dung brand aftermarket gauges instead of fixing the factory gauges. It’s okay, he’s harmless so don’t be alarmed. It’s kinda like that fairy tale about the troll living under the bridge.
Soon you will meet Dave. He will tell you to put all your trust in a $15 set of Fling Dung brand aftermarket gauges instead of fixing the factory gauges. It’s okay, he’s harmless so don’t be alarmed. It’s kinda like that fairy tale about the troll living under the bridge.
Congratulations on your purchase and welcome to the forum.
Most likely the tach and temp gauge issues are two separate problems. Can you please elaborate on what they are doing? Are they both dead? Reading high or low?
Does your truck also have an oil pressure gauge or an idiot light? If it has the gauge, does it seem to work properly? How about the fuel gauge?
Wiring diagram are here. See page 58 for the gauges:
Soon you will meet Dave. He will tell you to put all your trust in a $15 set of Fling Dung brand aftermarket gauges instead of fixing the factory gauges. It’s okay, he’s harmless so don’t be alarmed. It’s kinda like that fairy tale about the troll living under the bridge.
Haha thank you. Both of the gauges are dead, and the oil pressure and every other gauge works as they should.
Both of the gauges are dead, and the oil pressure and every other gauge works as they should.
Okay, making some progress. Not sure what to recommend for the tach, but the temperature gauge is easy enough to troubleshoot.
The oil pressure, fuel quantity, and temperature gauges are the same internally. The only difference is the label on the face. The different senders all operate on the same range of 10 ohms = H and 73 ohms = L. You can use test jumpers and swap connections between the oil pressure and temperature senders.
Run the engine briefly and now your oil pressure gauge will display the signal from the coolant temperature sender, and the temp gauge will display the signal from the oil pressure sender. This will quickly isolate whether the gauge or sender is at fault. Could save you a lot of effort to tear apart the dash to look at a likely good gauge.
Karl, since you have the 351, maybe you could let the OP know where his temp sending unit lives. Might be as easy as a loose connector. If the sending unit is connected it usually sends some kind of signal even when blown. So if his guage is showing all the way left of the C for cold it's probably not connected at all.
Karl, since you have the 351, maybe you could let the OP know where his temp sending unit lives...
Your wish is my command.
The temperature sender look like this, with a single wire connection:
The large end threads straight down into the intake manifold, between the distributor and the driver’s side valve cover. It typically has a 90 degree push-on connector. It’s kinda buried, right in the middle of this picture:
If you want to swap leads for troubleshooting, here’s the location of the oil pressure sender:
This is at the front left corner of the engine. The large bell-shaped unit with the round single wire connection is the oil pressure sender for the gauge. The smaller unit with two flat terminals is what I added for my electric fuel pump conversion, so your truck won’t have that.
I tried swapping the leads with both , but the temp gauge wire wouldnt fit onto the oil pressure stub. The connecter is connected, and weirdly enough the rpms fixed themselves ? Should I buy a new sensor and go from there?
With the key off, ground the temp sender wire. Turn the key on and I think your guage should sweep over to H...hot. turn off the key right away as I understand that prolonged it can do damage. Then you know your wire and guage are good. Buy the new sender. Also can check the sender. Check continuity between the connector and the threads. Should see some resistance. If open replace.
