1994 3.1L, at 1st just rough idle, now NO temperature reading...

[loudgoldwing]

Hey guys, GREAT BOARD! My name is Sean and I've been wrenching bikes for a while, so I'm not the average newb, here. I am, however, having a (I think) minor issue with my '94 Century 3.1L V6... I want to run it by you guys just to be sure.

This car has 29,000 miles on it. Ever since I bought the car from my Grandmother (9 months and 10,000 miles ago), it would idle a bit rough until the engine was warm. I now understand that there is a Temperature Sensor on the engine block that sends info to the injection system, hence re-mapping the mixture between start-up and normal operating temperature. So I now realize that I have to replace it. No problem, except for two little issues:

Question #1: Where on the engine block is the damned thing?

Question #2: As of today my dashboard temp guage is now dead, too (constantly reading at ice cold) but I still get hot air from the heater, so the water pump is working, and I ran the "defrost" function all the way to work, thereby keeping the radiator fan on for the whole trip, just to be safe. How does the guage get its temperature reading? If I swap the sensor on the engine, is it likely to solve BOTH the idling issue and the temp guage issue?

PLEASE HELP!!! If this were a Ninja I'd be done by now.
Sean

[GTP Dad]

As for the idle you may just have a dirty throttle body and idle air control motor although the temp sensor could certainly have something to do with it. This should give you a location on the sensor:
http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBr...ERATURE+SENSOR

And this should give you an idea where the engine temp sensor is located: http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBr...ERATURE+SENSOR

Once you replace both the engine should idle better and the guage should work.

I would remove the IAC and clean it. Just don't move the pintle when cleaning, also use throttle body cleaner rather than carb cleaner. Cleaning the throttle body won't hurt either especially in a car this old. May have some excess deposits on it.