289 temp. sender help
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289 temp. sender help
Hi. have searched but cannot find anything specific to my problem. Have a 289 motor, cannot get temp gauge to register at all, have installed a brand new sender, the temp gauge works because when you earth it to the engine it goes all the way to the hot side. Temp will register a little when engine turned off, everything works but it just won't register, engine seems to be warming up enough to register a temp. I am just wondering if the motor has the wrong thermostat installed maybe a 160/180, where it needs a 195 degree to make it register. What size thermostats did they put in these motors? Thanks in advance.
Chris
Chris
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From: Washington
Your thermostat should not have anything to do with weather or not the sender works. Once your engine warms up some the gauge should read at least on the low side even if you didn't have a thermostat in there.
I'd say the problem is in the wiring. No power to the unit or the wire could be grounding somewhere along the way.
I'd say the problem is in the wiring. No power to the unit or the wire could be grounding somewhere along the way.
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Thanks for your reply. I have a f100 that wasn't registering at all on the gauge, it had a 160 degree thermostat in it, ended up puttting a 195 degree in it and it registers right in the middle of the gauge, spot on. Just thought I might be having the same problem with the 289.
Chris
Chris
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Nudgey, if that sender cost you $30, you need to go have a serious talk with your parts man. Senders typically cost about $5. I just did a quick check for one for my 91 EXP and it is a little over $4
Do you have another rig handy that you could swap the sender with just for a quick check? There isn't probably much difference in them as long as the size is the same.
Could you run a wire directly from the sender to the gauge? If your sure that you have power to the gauge that would tell you if there is a problem with the wiring or the sender.
Do you have another rig handy that you could swap the sender with just for a quick check? There isn't probably much difference in them as long as the size is the same.
Could you run a wire directly from the sender to the gauge? If your sure that you have power to the gauge that would tell you if there is a problem with the wiring or the sender.
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Australian dollars. Everything is so damn expensive here for truck and motor bits. The sender cost me 15 dollars plus the adaptor bush cost 15 dollars, we get ripped off down here for parts. You will not find any f-series trucks (doesn't matter what year) around my area at the wreckers (junkyard) And I'm from a city of approx. 100,000 people with a dozen wreckers or more. You guys probably have more competition over there as well, especially internet mail order. If you need a part for your truck down , here be prepared to pay $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ and lots of time tracking it down, a bit frustrating.
Chris, Australia
Chris, Australia
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That's to bad your having so much problems with that thermostat. It seems most likely that the problem is in the wiring somewhere.
Where you at down there? My wife's folks live in Ulverston, Tassi.
Where you at down there? My wife's folks live in Ulverston, Tassi.
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Were on the mainland just above tassie, in Victoria, the capital is melbourne, we live about 100 km west of there in Ballarat. Beautiful place tassie, excellent scenery, I haven't heard of Ulverston, my girlfriends father would know he was born in Tasmania.
Chris
Chris
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Nudgey, Ulverston is on the top or North side about 20 kilometers from the airport. They used to live in Devonport but moved up there last year. We were supposed to go down there for a visit a few months ago but the wife got ill. We are trying to go this year now.
We also have family in Sidney.
Dan
We also have family in Sidney.
Dan
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You've got family everywhere in Australia! I haven't got any family outside Australia, maybe a few distant relatives in Ireland maybe but that is it, nice place sydney! Hey, you can stop off at my place when u come, I'll show u that 30 dollar temp. sender LOL. You guys don't know how good you've got in regards to car prices and parts! I've got a 1985 f100 302efi xlt which is in average condition, I paid 10,000 for it and got it at a bargain price, a new f-250 (the only new f-series available here from ford) will set you back 60-70000 grand!
Chris
Chris
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That's an amazing difference in price isn't it! Around here you could get that truck for 12 to 25 hundred depending on how average it is. I really don't understand why there is such a big difference in the price of cars there unless it's because they all have to be shipped down there.
My folks just had a new home built in Ulverston last spring and the cost was about the same as having one built here. Seems like they just like to hose you on cars. I should ship my old mustang down there to sell maybe I could retire in style.
You know there is only 30 to 40 cents difference in our exchange rate so there is no reason to be sticking everybody like that.
Did you try a test light or a volt meter at the sensor to see if power is getting there?
My folks just had a new home built in Ulverston last spring and the cost was about the same as having one built here. Seems like they just like to hose you on cars. I should ship my old mustang down there to sell maybe I could retire in style.
You know there is only 30 to 40 cents difference in our exchange rate so there is no reason to be sticking everybody like that.
Did you try a test light or a volt meter at the sensor to see if power is getting there?
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Yeah. Big diffrence in car prices. They do have to be converted to left hand drive which would cost a bit, although my sisters boyfriend has a mustang (60's model) which was manufactured here in the Ford plant in Geelong, which is on the south coast of Victoria. You would get big dollars for your mustang here. Look up uniquecarsales.com.au and see what we are paying for them. BTW, I have tried a test light at the sender and it does work, got me stumped.
Chris
Chris
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Has the temperature gauge ever worked for you? The reason I ask is if someone replaced before you, they may have put teflon tape on the threads before installing which is a no no. It needs metal to metal contact for ground. If you suspect the sender unit is bad try this.
You need to test both sender and wire back to instruments. Do
this by pulling the wire off of the sender and connecting a 10 ohm heavy ceramic resistor (Radio Shack sells them, they are called power resistors)
between the sender wire and ground. Go turn on your ignition. Temp gauge should read HOT in about 10-15 seconds. If it does not move, you have a broken wire, bad ground or a bad gauge unit. If it does, then you have a bad sender unit.
As far as the sender unit goes, have you tried finding one on Ebay? Might be cheaper than in "Down Under".
What year vehicle is in?
You need to test both sender and wire back to instruments. Do
this by pulling the wire off of the sender and connecting a 10 ohm heavy ceramic resistor (Radio Shack sells them, they are called power resistors)
between the sender wire and ground. Go turn on your ignition. Temp gauge should read HOT in about 10-15 seconds. If it does not move, you have a broken wire, bad ground or a bad gauge unit. If it does, then you have a bad sender unit.
As far as the sender unit goes, have you tried finding one on Ebay? Might be cheaper than in "Down Under".
What year vehicle is in?
More Turbo
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 621
Likes: 2
From: Marana, AZ
Has the temperature gauge ever worked for you? The reason I ask is if someone replaced before you, they may have put teflon tape on the threads before installing which is a no no. It needs metal to metal contact for ground. If you suspect the sender unit is bad try this.
You need to test both sending unit and wires back to instruments. Do
this by pulling the wire off of the sender and connecting a 10 ohm heavy ceramic resistor (Radio Shack sells them, they are called power resistors)
between the sender wire and ground. Go turn on your ignition. Temp gauge should read HOT in about 10-15 seconds. If it does not move, you have a broken wire, bad ground or a bad gauge unit. If it does, then you have a bad sender unit.
As far as the sender unit goes, have you tried finding one on Ebay? Might be cheaper than in "Down Under".
What year vehicle is this in?
You need to test both sending unit and wires back to instruments. Do
this by pulling the wire off of the sender and connecting a 10 ohm heavy ceramic resistor (Radio Shack sells them, they are called power resistors)
between the sender wire and ground. Go turn on your ignition. Temp gauge should read HOT in about 10-15 seconds. If it does not move, you have a broken wire, bad ground or a bad gauge unit. If it does, then you have a bad sender unit.
As far as the sender unit goes, have you tried finding one on Ebay? Might be cheaper than in "Down Under".
What year vehicle is this in?