temp guage

[Joseph Yakubik <75363.2524@compuserve.com>]

What are the odds of a brand new multi-function sensor being bad?  I purchased a
new, re-designed three prong sensor to take the place of my intermittent 4 prong
sensor.  The new sensor was slow to rise, went up to 1/4 deflection, then died.

I've checked the wiring for continuity and whenever I short the temp guage to
ground I get full scale deflection, as expected.  Is the problem likely to be in
the sensor or in the ground from the engine block?  

BTW:  two new Bentley electrical errors.  One diagramming error; the sensor
should show an internal connection to ground via the engine block/ground cable.
The other, I'm not sure what it is.  

My overheat/coolant circuit was also non-functional (bad guage and no overheat
warning -- not an ideal situation).  The self-test showed OK, but my coolant was
low after changing the sensor and I got no warning.  The Bentley troubleshooting
led to the step:  Replace the circuit board.  To reduce several hours of trouble
shooting to one sentence:  fuse 27 was bad.  Fuse 27, BTW, is labelled as Engine
Timing I in the fuse box and as the electronic injection system fuse in Bentley.
There were no apparant symptoms of the blown fuse, other than maybe a 1-2 mpg
drop.  I'm labelling it as the "magic fuse".  

BTW, part 2.  Fuse 27 also is the trigger for the low oil pressure switch.
Again oil system self test was good and no pressure warnings.

Joe Yakubik
no idea how hot, but at least I can tell when it's too hot