Temperature Sensor

How important is the coolant temperature sensor that gives my temperature display on the dash? I broke the little pin that holds the wire to the probe and although its only like a $10 part, its a pain in the ass to get at.. I've been driving it without it for a while and noticed my gas mileage hasn't been that great.. could this be a factor?

Thanks
Ben

Well it's only important if something happenes to your cooling system and you don't know it and it reads 0 meanwhile you just seized your engine. Outside of that, you're fine. :banghead:

Spend the 5 bux on the new sensor.