Water Temperature Sender Attachments

[Axelthered05]

I baught a water temp guage for my civic but need to know the iner diamiter of the upper radiator hose does anybody knows the iner diamiter of a 91 honda civic dx d15b2 upper radiator hose?

this is ware i am buying it from http://www.glowshiftdirect.com/Water-Hose-Adapters.aspx

[Tony]

I had it the lower radiator measured at one point, but I can't remember what it was now. I would suggest installing it on the lower hose just for the extra room it has to actually install that. There is no way I could install one of those on my upper radiator hose, the just isn't any room in it.

[Christ]

You could always replace the stock coolant temp sensor with it...

[Tony]

Except the ECM uses that sensor :P

I did it on my race cars, which was dumb because I also removed the oil sending unit.....on a Vtec motor. And it took me until off-season to realize that I never had vtec engage.

I'm a bright one at times.

bah...stupid quick reply still not working.

[Christ]

It's working for me.. quick reply.

If you had a electronic water temp gauge, you could tap the wires from the sending unit... you don't, I assume.

Since that is a problem for you, the next best place to put it is either in the thermostat housing, (not a good place) or the side of the radiator... I've had pipe nipples brazed into the side of the lower tank before, so that it could be threaded in securely, and didn't need to be sealed.

[Tony]

Originally Posted by Dr0pZ0n3

It's working for me.. quick reply.

If you had a electronic water temp gauge, you could tap the wires from the sending unit... you don't, I assume.

Since that is a problem for you, the next best place to put it is either in the thermostat housing, (not a good place) or the side of the radiator... I've had pipe nipples brazed into the side of the lower tank before, so that it could be threaded in securely, and didn't need to be sealed.

No I don't tap into the stock sending unit, I actually don't even like electrical gauges, I prefer mechanical, other than its easier to reuse an electrical gauge.

Why do you say the thermostat housing is a bad idea? That is where your stock unit is, atleast on a Z6 it is.

[Christ]

Stock on most D-series is in the head from what I've seen. Two wire sensor, pass side, under the dizzy. Maybe w/ Vtec it's diff?

Thermostat housing is a bad idea b/c the thermostat is in there... less than 2" into it, and the stupid thread in sensor is usually more than 2" long... or pretty close to it. Not to mention that putting something that's almost 5/8" wide into the flow of coolant in a pipe that's only 1 1/8 wide will seriously impede flow... not something you want.

Take your radiator, drill a hole in the side of the upper tank, and JB-Weld a nut to it that will fit the threads on the sensor... then screw it in, with loc-tite or something to seal the threads. (Realistically, normal silicone gasket sealant will work here.)

This will put it in a place where it will get an accurate reading, will not impede flow enough to notice, and won't interfere with anything else under the hood... plus, you can run it right with the factory harness, and keep it low under the hood, then zip tie it up the side of the radiator to the termination point.

[Tony]

The Z6 has the temp sensor on the Thermostat housing, but you are correct on the room. There is no way to run a mechanical gauge with the thermostat in there, which wasn't an issue on my race cars because they didn't have a thermostat. But an electrical sensor is perfectly fine in there.

I know where you are talking about, and the z6 has a sensor there as well, don't know if its a temp also or not, haven't looked too much into it.

It depends on what kind of radiator you have on how you should go about installing a fitting in it. If you have a radiator with plastic tanks, easy: Drill a hole, thread it for a fitting, use some plastic Epoxy to seal around the fitting and hold it there, once it is dry you can install your sensor with THREAD Tape to seal it :P

If you have brass tanks: JB weld will work, but I would rather go take it to someone and have them weld/braze a fitting onto it. Same for Aluminum tanks.

[Christ]

Ouch... my toes are hurting :P

Yes, brazing would be a better idea, but it costs money... and I'm used to HM'ing everything, so it's the first thing that comes to mind, that would get it working until he could get it brazed properly.

For plastic tanks, yes, use either plastic epoxy, model glue, or you could even plastic weld the fitting... obviously, if it's plastic, you want to use a plastic "nut" for a fitting... these can be gotten at most hardware stores, and if you're inventive, I'm sure you have something plastic that's about 1/2" thick and totally useless to you at the moment. You can drill and tap the plastic, and that will work fine.

[Axelthered05]

ok well thanks for the info i am going to do what you said Tony and install it on the lower hose for the extra room by the way for a 91 honda civic dx d15b2 the 30MM or 1 3/16th Inch Water Sender Attachment fits if anybaudy is intristed
http://www.glowshiftdirect.com/30-mm...ttachment.aspx

[Christ]

ah... Tony... I see your schwartz is as big as mine!... -- spaceballs, edited for name.

[Tony]

I did find out the other day that atleast the sending units Glowshift sends with there gauges will fit in the stock temp sensor location for the stock gauge. I was tearing apart some spare heads and decided to test it. The aftermarket sensor is quite a bit longer, but you can thread enough of it in there that it should seal perfectly fine and it won't go anywhere.

This is the one wire sensor under your distributor. I know on the z6, I believe all it does is sends a signal to the stock gauge, while I think another sensor by it sends a signal to the ECU, while a 3rd one on the thermostat housing controls the fans. Could have that wrong, but looking through the FSM for a z6, it list the 1 wire sensor are Temp Gauge sensor, the 2 wire sensor under the distributor as TW sensor, and the one on the thermostat housing as a Thermoswitch.

I think the z6 is the only one with the thermoswitch, maybe the y8. But all Honda heads I have seen so far have the 2 sensors under the distributor still. I plan on testing this and replace the stock sensor and wire the factory wire into the aftermarket sensor as well as the gauges.

[Christ]

Lol... that's alot to think about... 3 sensors for essentially the same thing.

[Tony]

Yea I know. I don't fully understand it myself, but I was just glancing through the FSM and that is my take on it so far.

[Christ]