temp gauge help ---95SL1 engine swapped with 97SL1

[ravisher78]

hey every1.... see if u have a clue...
i have a 95 saturn sl1 whose engine died.... which i replaced with what i thought was a 91-95 saturn engine but it turned out to be an after 95 engine. well the engine got installed alright.... its working ok but theres a problem... my temp gauge isnt working.... i looked under the hood and i actually saw a green wire which wasnt connected to plug...the wire is under the battery on the driver side where the thick wire bundle is ...theres two wires here which attach onto the engine... one harness has two wires black and yellow attaching onto the valve cover and the other harness has a green wire which attaches to the head where the coolant circulates. this is a green wire with i think a black stripe on it. i went to a local junkyard and looked under the hoods of pre and post 95 sl1s and it seemed clear to me that 95 and before cars have this extra green wire coming out of the harness under the battery which attaches into the head and probably gives the coolant temp on the gauge inside. what i dont have a clue about is where in the hell is this wire going to attach on the post 95 model sl1 engines?? because on the post 95 engines the place where the wire attaches does not exist.

any help would be appreciated :-?
thanks for looking
ravi

[yaz4real]

Your '97 engine and specifically located on the driver's side of the cylinder head has only one tap in for the ECTS ( engine coolant sensor) that also serves as your in car temperature gauge.

In your previous '95 engine there were two. One specific to the ECTS and in just on front of the sensor location for the gauge.

There are locations for you to tap in to the head to get your in car gauge to work.

Here is an example:
http://www.saturnfans.com/photos/sho...hp?photo=31566

[ravisher78]

hey thanks a lot for the help....
ok i understand the setup... thats the nut and copper element from the 95 saturn pushed through into the 97 engine.... right... my question here is that does the copper element on the nut have to touch the coolant in the head or not??

I was thinking of cutting through the 'Z' shaped rubber coolant pipe coming out of the radiator on the drivers side and adding a metal section to the Z pipe and then screwing this temperature sensor copper nut thingy from the 95 saturn into the metal section.... and this way it would be in touch with the coolant.... my only doubt here is if theres coolant present in this Z pipe at all times or not?! would this work???

[yaz4real]

How about this?


http://www.saturnfans.com/photos/sho...hp?photo=16097

[yaz4real]

Read this and you may want to visit that website also...

http://www.saturnfans.com/forums/sho...t=gauge+sensor

[ravisher78]

thanks a million man....
really appreciate ur help...im gonna go with removing one bolt from the eyehook and shoving the sensor thingy in it.....should work .....

thanks once again....

ravi

[sierrap615]

let us know how that works, since it won't be surounded by coolant i doubt the reading will be correct

[ravisher78]

ok guys...just so u know...the temp reader thingy does not fit into the head just like that.... im gonna make the hole on the head where i took out the eye hook bigger and would stick the reader in there.
well this does work cuz when i touched the tip of the reader to the hot head i did see a reading on my temp gauge on the dashboard. so when i make the hole bigger and stick the temp reader into it.... things should work out fine...lets hope so.

[ravisher78]

ok this is how i did it. removed the engine hook. there were two screw holes. i selected the upper one.... drilled into it with a small drill till the end.... then drilled into it with a bigger drill till half...tapped a new thread into it and then screwed the temp sensor into it....plug in the wire and VOILA!! it works flawlessly!!
thanks you guys for your precious help!!!!