[s-cars] Coolant sensor in Tee on lines going to heater core (95 S6)

[Peter Golledge]

List folk,

The tee on the coolant lines going to the heater core appears to be leaking
again after another 80K miles or so.  I'm tempted to bypass this plastic
mess completely with some fresh silicone hose, from block nipple to vacuum
valve.  Anyone recall if the sensor does anything other than tell the HVAC
what temp the coolant is?  P/N for sensor is 025906041A used in a bunch of
VAG stuff but I'm not finding details on its purpose for the S-cars.