Printable View
thanks for this link Tim.
Also, the wiring on my van is very old and brittle. The female plug cap for the sending unit disintegrated when unplugging it.
I am having a time finding a new cap to solder on. Do you have any suggestions? Someone at Napa said to just solder on a spade head. I am not sure I like that idea. but will go with it if I can't get the proper plug.
It's just a 1/4" male spade post on the sender. A 1/4" female spade is all Toyota uses for the harness, it's just the insulation part that's different. I wouldn't hesitate to use a standard spade here. The insulation part on most of my vans has deteriorated, but as long as the conductor part is intact, I keep using the factory harness connector. If you really want a factory type connector here, you could probably go to a salvage yard and cut one off multiple places on many different makes/models, then solder/shrink tube. Tim
Hey everyone. I searched for a while but couldn't find what I'm looking for. I recently bought an 86 LE 2wd. Had a code 4 so I replaced the water temp sensor while doing a basic tune-up. Van runs great but now the temp gauge on the dash isn't working. Checked for loose connections that I might have bumped as well as all of the fuses. Everything looks okay. No codes either. Is there another water temp sensor I'm missing?
Okay, resolved this issue. I took the passenger access panel back off and inspected very closely. The temp sensor in the block (1 wire) and it's connector looked good. I cut away some of the heat shrink and found part of the wire exposed from a crack in the insulation. Clipped the wire back, installed be end, re-connected the wire and we're in business.
Guess the years under the hood can cause all kinds of electrical gremlins. Just glad this one was simple.
Tim, appreciate the detail here as always. Do you happen to know what the plug below the sender unit is? After a similar debacle with my temperature gauge I realized that not only was it unplugged, but the unit on the block that the plug itself plugs into is missing (so I cannot plug it back in). Would this explain why my temp gauge is not functioning? Thanks in advance.Quote:
Originally Posted by timsrv
Search the site using the term "water thermo switch". It's to delay the overdrive from kicking in on vans with automatic transmissions.
After finally having a public holiday today I decided to try and locate my Coolant Gauge, Water temperature sender and the wire for it as my coolant gauge on the dash cluster was inoperative. Looking at the wiring diagram in the manual It said I would be chasing a Y-G wire yellow and green wire for the Water Temperature Sender.
Attachment 13540
After spending an hour with just he inspection hole covers off and having a hard time locating the wire I decided to lift the right side panel off to give me bigger access to the engine and hopefully find the wire and water temperature sender.
https://youtu.be/nyRibiTeVqA
I am wondering what or where the connector for the Temperature gauge-Sender looks or goes to. My temperature gauge doesn't work, and thanks to this thread/posts I looked for the sender. It is broken, no tab on it. So I ordered a new one. But since nothing is connected to it (and hopefully that is why it isn't reading) I don't know where the connector is. I have a couple of connectors that are just dangling on this side of the engine. Green one and a black one. The black one is closer to the front, but it seems from pictures it is supposed to be green...any help will be appreciated.
I still haven't figured out how add pictures...
Hey Mate without having a wiring diagram of your specific van it will be hard to pin point exactly what wire you would be looking for, I would suggest looking at the harness that the oil pressure switch wire comes from usually the oil pressure sensor runs the coolant temp sender wire off the same harness to send to the dash cluster for the warning lights. Other than that I would suggest doing what I was doing and just have a good look with a torch and see if any wires are missing or just hanging.
Best Regards
KNIBBZY
Attachment 13548
Thanks for the reply KNIBBZY. I actually figured out the connector. I changed the Temp Sender sensor and now my gauge is working/moving. But now that it works, it goes to "Waaay too Hot" really quick! Just starting the van in the driveway it keeps moving up. The previous owner had an After Market gauge bolted and it runs off somewhere on the front/coolant attachments...and that one doesn't get crazy hot. (But I guess they're reading different things)
I also changed the Temperature sensor for ECU since I was getting Engine Light Codes 4-11. It cleared the "4" code now...but now the Van Temp Gauge says it is overheating. It kind of make me wonder if previous owner just disconnected it because of that.
Any ideas as to why the Temp Gauge goes up to hot so quickly? I don't think the van is actually overheating. Any way to check that? I've been driving it around the block before I got the Temp Gauge to read; It didn't seem to overheat.
By the way, it is a 1987 TV 4x4 LE...