What is this sensor?

[trife86]

not my picture but need to know what this sensor is on the engine? mine preety much fell apart

[Ninjaskill]

cooling fan switch i believe

[Inodoro Pereyra]

Yeah, that's the cooling fan switch.

[trife86]

Looking online for the part is it maybe called the tempature switch or the coolant tempature sender (not sensor)

[umcamara]

Either coolant temp. sensor or sender, I can't remember. My engine has both, but it's a B6DE not B6Me as your's looks like.

[trife86]

it was the coolant temp sender. thanks guys

[Inodoro Pereyra]

No, it's not. The name you'll find it under is "radiator fan switch".
The coolant temperature sender (or sending unit) is the one that feeds data to he ECU.

[Dark_Rider2k3]

Glad my picture came in handy.

Seems to be a ton of thermosensor/fan switch topics.. hopefully I can find my problem in all of these

[umcamara]

No, it's not. The name you'll find it under is "radiator fan switch".
The coolant temperature sender (or sending unit) is the one that feeds data to he ECU.

It's also commonly called the coolant temp sensor or sender, as I said. My engine has both, a coolant temp sender, and a coolant temp sensor, can't remember which that one is called.

[Inodoro Pereyra]

No, it's not. The name you'll find it under is "radiator fan switch".
The coolant temperature sender (or sending unit) is the one that feeds data to he ECU.

It's also commonly called the coolant temp sensor or sender, as I said. My engine has both, a coolant temp sender, and a coolant temp sensor, can't remember which that one is called.

I agree. That's he problem: people call them all "coolant temperature sensor", and they're not.

The name I gave is the one you will find it by if you go to a store, or if you buy it on line.

There are 3 units in the coolant circuit:

"Radiator fan switch" is not a sensor. It's a switch. It turns the radiator fan on/off.
"Coolant temperature sensor" (or "sending unit") is a sensor, normally 2 wire. It feeds data to the ECU, for emissions and engine protection purposes.
"Coolant temperature gauge sensor" (or "sending unit") is also a sensor, normally 1 wire. It feeds a signal to the temperature gauge in the dash, so the driver can completely ignore it while driving, and overheat the car anyways.

[Ninjaskill]

"Coolant temperature gauge sensor" (or "sending unit") is also a sensor, normally 1 wire. It feeds a signal to the temperature gauge in the dash, so the driver can completely ignore it while driving, and overheat the car anyways.

man, you nailed it right on the head gasket....

[Inodoro Pereyra]

Yeah... Ask me how I know...

[Dark_Rider2k3]

I would really like to know where "all" of these are. This was a huge problem for me, and, like it has been said a lot, can be confusing when grabbing parts.

I can confirm for the B6 SOHC that:

Water Temperature Sensor (for the ECU): Located Right below Injector #1. Wiring harness for switch is connected with the injector harness.

Radiator Fan switch: Located on the thermostat housing.

I do not know where the Temperature Gauge Sensor is.

Also, is it the Temperature Gauge sensor you must use when swapping in the BP, or the Temperature sensor?. I will probably use all these sensors but just making sure i know what I "must" use.

But yeah I did find my temp. sensor thankfully! Can will be running tomorrow when the part arrives.

[Ninjaskill]

I do not know where the Temperature Gauge Sensor is.

that is located on the cylinder head under the distributor i think. it is a tiny little thing that has only one
connector on it like this:



here is a picture of the sensor for the ECU:

[Dark_Rider2k3]

Yeah I replaced the ECU sensor. And I see where the engine temp. sensor is.

I just know that something from the SOHC has to be swapped over so that the gauges read correctly. What is that?