Water Temp sender on EJ20T - where is it?

ToyRX · Post by **ToyRX** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 6:06 am

Cant seem to find the pesky little blighter, can anyone point me in the right direction??

Thanks in advance.

Ben · Post by **Ben** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 8:56 am

Underneath the throttle body where the cast coolant pipe runs between heads - its in a most unaccessible place too - if you want the wire to get dash gauge running you need to go off the harness.

ToyRX · Post by **ToyRX** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 9:03 am

Thanks MechaWagon,

I want to hook up an after market Temp gauge to get over the EA vs EJ temp gauge differances, so the loom wire would be fine.
Is it one of the wires that connect to the main loom just above the starter motor? If so does anyone happen to know which one it is (colour/plug etc).
Also is there an easy way to test that the sender is working corectly with a multimeter??

Cheers.

Outback bloke · Post by **Outback bloke** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 7:26 pm

White wire, green trace.

PeeJay · Post by **PeeJay** » Tue Nov 08, 2005 10:15 am

Ahh, so that'e there that green wire goes!

ToyRX · Post by **ToyRX** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 6:26 am

Found a white wire on its own with its own loom plug, but no green trace, I think this is the right one...

It leads to a sender that screws in vertically, if you look straight down ~5 or 6cm to the side of the IC-to-Tbody pipe and behind the throttle cable/butterfly linkages, looks like it should come out straight up if I use a long extension.

Can someone confirm this is the right one

I dont want to confuse it with the one the ECU uses 8O

fredsub · Post by **fredsub** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 10:16 am

don't know about ej20, but just considering that a wire on its own from a plug is unlikely to be a temperature sender.......just my 1c thoughts....
anyway correct me if i'm wrong, and tell us how it goes.

PeeJay · Post by **PeeJay** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 11:46 am

I have a green wire and a white wire not connected to anything coming from one of the square grey connecters near the battery. The plugs under the throttle body are for the cam and crank angle sensors I think.

jzk25 · Post by **jzk25** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 12:33 pm

Simplest way to address the temp sender issue in an EJ L series is to fit the EA temp sender into the top radiator hose in a steel sleeve with the sender mounted to it. The EJ sender doesn't use a resistance range that is a match for any common guage.

ToyRX · Post by **ToyRX** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 12:39 pm

Thanks for the input so far guys, I have gathered that splicing in the new gauge to the old sender wont work so i need to plumb in a new sender, preferably in original place if not the in a handy piece of plumbing....

problem with the upper radiator pipe is that in my car it is very short and Im not convinced there is room for a mount.
I was thinking about the heater core loop which is currently just plumbed back on itself... does this loop have continual flow (even when cold) and would it be accurate??

Things are never easy aye

jzk25 · Post by **jzk25** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 5:05 pm

What about fitting it into one of the fan switch spots in the radiator tank. You could also take off the PS pump and drill and tap the alloy water manifold in that area.

Ben · Post by **Ben** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 8:21 pm

jzk25 wrote:What about fitting it into one of the fan switch spots in the radiator tank.

That's what I did.

ToyRX · Post by **ToyRX** » Mon Nov 14, 2005 5:40 am

Thanks guys - ended up putting it in the top pipe, a tight squease but made easier using a "custom" sender mount, simply a suitable diameter piece of exhaust pipe and brase the fitting into a driled hole, cut to length (short

) and all good.

Just out of interest do these temps sound about right...
Open road cruise - 85 deg C
Thermo fans kick in - 95deg C
After 2min Hillclimb thrash - 100 deg C

I checked the sender in a jug of boiling water and got ~97 deg C which is only about a degree off perfect when adjusted for altatude so that should be all good.

Cheers - Shaun

wagonist · Post by **wagonist** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 1:49 pm

To fit mine, I filled up the old EJ sensor hole with weld & then bulked it up because the EA sensor is bigger.
Then redrill & tap. Looks clean, using a carb EA sensor has only one wire as well & doesn't require any loom changes.
BUT, you've got to pull the manifolds off to get at them.

There is only a single wire for the dash sensor. On the EJ's, there is another multiwire sensor right beside it for the ECU.
The sensor should also be screwed in horizontally, so the vertical one you found is something different.

They're right in front of the turbo, which makes them a bitch to get at.