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PO hacked coolant temperature sensor connector

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hellraisin'

Proven Member
69
7
Apr 5, 2016
Ozarks, Missouri
The previous owner hacked the coolant temperature sensor connector/wiring on my 98 Talon TSi Awd. I noticed it when I got a code P0170 fuel trim bank 1. I found the hacked connector with one wire ripped out and electrical tape all over it. I connected the wires back together real quick to see if that would fix the P0170 and then it would only run for a second when started then die. So today I bought a ECT sensor from NAPA. I removed the two pins from the fubar connector and soldered them onto the existing wires. Once I installed the new ECT sesnor I connected the pins to it. I connected the female pins on the harness side to the pins in the sensor correctly and verified via telescoping mirror. The car runs again. I run a bluetooth OBD2 adapter and Torque Pro on my phone when I drive and when I'm home I have Evoscan v2.9 that I use with a 409.1 VAG COM. Evoscan said the coolant temperature scaling was 21-24*F and the Torque said the coolant temp was 120*F after running for 15 to 20 mins. The radiator fans wouldn't kick on and the coolant temperature gauge in the cluster would read a little hot. To keep the car cool I turned the A/C on which would run both fans at low speed. Then I took another look at the ECT sensor wires that I soldered on and found another wire (3rd wire) deep inside the plastic sleeve/loom. So there are three black wires, one or two have a white stripe.

I can get more pictures if needed.



Connector that was on the car.

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2016-10-25_08-51-14



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And this is the Sensor I ordered.

Echlin TS3005


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I can grab pics of the wiring and old sensor if need be.. In my search I came up with threads discussing CTS and CAS being confused with ECT and couldn't find anything more explanatory to point me in the direction of finding out what's been done and what I need to do to correct this. Thanks in advance.
 
I'm confused, what's your question? It sounds like your soldering job isn't making a good connection. You need a new a connector with wires hanging out of it so you can connect it to the wires from the car harness.

You could cut one from a junkyard or @Stangmurdera could probably help you out. He probably has millions of wiring harnesses laying around by now.
 
My question is why are there three wires going to the ECT sensor? And why is the idle high at 1100 RPM's, the fans won't kick on and it's in open loop for low coolant temperature when I can see with Evoscan that it's within operating temp?

When the cars running unplugging the sensor kicks the fans on high and the car idles down. My soldering job is making adequate connection as the connection between the sensor and the pins is very positive and my soldering skills are on par.

I ordered the connector from ohm racing for the permanent repair late last week. But I'm sure it's making a good connection. Except for the third wire which has no where to go...
 
Oh, and when I unplug the sensor Evoscan reads -40*C. When plugged in seconds after starting the car it was 20*C. So it is making connection but something is wrong.
 
Idle may have nothing to do with your ECT. As far as the third wire, good question, I do kind of remember a 3rd wire tucked into the sleeve but I'm not sure what its for. Your fans are supposed to kick on at *210 F so your readings are off and it should reach that temp easily after 15-20min. That explains why the needle is raising passed the half mark. The ECU is seeing only *120F while the engine could be well passed *210F and not kicking on the fans. Maybe you wired up the 2 wires backwards or possibly a bad sensor from the auto store?
 
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Sheridan Engineering for all of your connectors if you can't find used ones. They have just about every connector we use on our cars.
http://connectors.sheridanengineering.com/ I have ordered many different connectors from him. Ships quick and always thru in a few extra blades or spades, which ever the connector uses. :thumb:
 
Idle may have nothing to do with your ECT. As far as the third wire, good question, I do kind of remember a 3rd wire tucked into the sleeve but I'm not sure what its for. Your fans are supposed to kick on at *210 F so your readings are off and it should reach that temp easily after 15-20min. That explains why the needle is raising passed the half mark. The ECU is seeing only *120F while the engine could be well passed *210F and not kicking on the fans. Maybe you wired up the 2 wires backwards or possibly a bad sensor from the auto store?

Ok that explains why the fans aren't coming on. I think I have it hooked up how the previous owner had it so I think they had it right. I will check this using wiring diagrams when I get home this evening. But if it was connected wrong I read on here that it could damage the ECU. So I'll check the board when I get home to be sure. The new sensor tested within the specs given on the NAPA website. But that doesn't mean it's right. Although it looks physically identical to the sensor I removed.


There's another sensor on the thermostat housing that is only 1 wire, actually I think there is 2. Could have the connector broken off and just look like it doesn't have a wire. What color is the wire?

The sensor for the temperature gauge in the cluster is connected and working. I too was wondering if the other wire was routed with the ECT sensor but went to something else. I cannot find anything disconnected and I've looked at 2g thermostat housing pics on the net and cannot find any place it could go. But I will look again when I get home as thorough as possible. The third wire is black with a white stripe. The wires currently connected are one solid black and one black with a white stripe.

Sheridan Engineering for all of your connectors if you can't find used ones. They have just about every connector we use on our cars.
http://connectors.sheridanengineering.com/ I have ordered many different connectors from him. Ships quick and always thru in a few extra blades or spades, which ever the connector uses. :thumb:


I've seen them on the net. If I would have known I could buy the connectors separately I would have. Ohm racing didn't ship as quickly as I would have liked.



I haven't seen a connector like that. The connector I removed thats destroyed in my original post looks correct according to the thread displaying the connectors and their location and by Sheradin Eng. Again I haven't seen a connector like that before. That looks like the coolant temp sensor found on a 1G but I'm no expert on these cars. Obviously. LOL

Here's the wires for that connector:

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Yep, I verified my wiring by that picture. But the third wire is also black with a white stripe. So I think I need to make sure I have the right one connected.
 
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Communicate with Sheridan Engineering, he is very good and knowledgeable about the connectors for our cars if you know what it is used for. :thumb:
 
My question is why are there three wires going to the ECT sensor? And why is the idle high at 1100 RPM's, the fans won't kick on and it's in open loop for low coolant temperature when I can see with Evoscan that it's within operating temp?

When the cars running unplugging the sensor kicks the fans on high and the car idles down. My soldering job is making adequate connection as the connection between the sensor and the pins is very positive and my soldering skills are on par.

I ordered the connector from ohm racing for the permanent repair late last week. But I'm sure it's making a good connection. Except for the third wire which has no where to go...


The 3rd wire you are seeing in your harness is possibly your Coolant Gauge sensor wire, it is a single wire sensor, a picture with the color of the wire would rule this out.

Now about the sensor, if everything else is wired right i would exchange it if you purchase it locally, we've had bad experiences with non OEM ECT sensors in the past.
 
The 3rd wire you are seeing in your harness is possibly your Coolant Gauge sensor wire, it is a single wire sensor, a picture with the color of the wire would rule this out.

Now about the sensor, if everything else is wired right i would exchange it if you purchase it locally, we've had bad experiences with non OEM ECT sensors in the past.


Unless I'm missing something, the coolant gauge in the cluster works so I assume that the 3rd wire isn't related.

Ok, I will take a picture of all three wires and post it.


Thanks everyone for the help. You all are greatly appreciated!
 
Communicate with Sheridan Engineering, he is very good and knowledgeable about the connectors for our cars if you know what it is used for. :thumb:

Oops, I didn't see your reply.

I plan on it when I replace the MDP and TPS connectors as I bought the car with both slightly cracked. The person(s) whi owned this car before me done a number on it. Especially the wiring. Luckily I've been able to correct everything but this ECT issue.
 
To make this easier for you, use a Multi-meter and check for continuity.

Black/white stripe wire --- PIN 83 (Left pin when looking at the back of the connector).
Black wire ------------------- PIN 92 (Right pin when looking in the back of the connector).

If it is wired right try exchanging the sensor and see if that fix your problem. :thumb:

I don't recommend soldering, over time it will crack with the vibration, but for now it will work just fine.
 
To make this easier for you, use a Multi-meter and check for continuity.

Black/white stripe wire --- PIN 83 (Left pin when looking at the back of the connector).
Black wire ------------------- PIN 92 (Right pin when looking in the back of the connector).

If it is wired right try exchanging the sensor and see if that fix your problem. :thumb:

I don't recommend soldering, over time it will crack with the vibration, but for now it will work just fine.

Ok I'll check it with a multimeter. I knew about 83 but not 92.

Oh ok, well I soldered it and used heat shrink and figured that was the best method. What do you recommend for attaching your connector?
 
When making our harnesses, Open barrel crimps like used on all OEM harnesses is all we use, the only downside is that you would need a crimping tool for it, you can also crimp the terminals directly to your wire but you will require the same crimper aswell.

If you order through our website then there is an option to purchase the connector disassembled, but if you missed it we can send you some extra terminals or open barrel crimps to you at no cost. If you don't have that crimping tool, ill recommend you to at least used the adhesive lined heat-shrink over your solder instead of the regular one, and that should do just fine for you.
 
Update.

The "3rd wire" was a wire spliced into the existing wire about 3" down into the loom. So it wasn't a third wire at all. I removed the portion of wire and soldered on a new one using a new single piece of wire and desoldering the pin off the old one I had made previously.

This was what I was seeing.

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2016-10-26_06-34-06


And I reinstalled the old temperature sensor after finding the wire was poorly spliced. Afterwards it showed the correct temperature on Torque Pro. I don't rely on the Bluetooth adapter and Torque Pro much but I figured for just reading the coolant temperature it would suffice.

With the parts store ECT.

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Screenshot_20161026-161256



One or two mins later with the OEM sensor. Disregard the time. I locked the app to hold the reading right after plugging the OEM ECT in.

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Screenshot_20161026-164736



And while I was doing this UPS dropped off a fuel injector o-ring kit from extreme psi so I installed that while I was at it because the injectors leaked last week during a boost leak test.

I reset the codes by unplugging the two fuses. I need to verify that Torque Pro is displaying open loop and closed loop correctly by hooking up to the car with Evoscan. Because it went from open loop to closed loop at about 130*F then before reaching 160*F it went back into open loop and stated "temperature too low for closed loop." Again, that was Torque Pro. I need to check again with Evoscan.

The thing is I don't think the ECT is bad because it reads the temperature correctly. Unless I'm unaware of something in regards to this.

When making our harnesses, Open barrel crimps like used on all OEM harnesses is all we use, the only downside is that you would need a crimping tool for it, you can also crimp the terminals directly to your wire but you will require the same crimper aswell.

If you order through our website then there is an option to purchase the connector disassembled, but if you missed it we can send you some extra terminals or open barrel crimps to you at no cost. If you don't have that crimping tool, ill recommend you to at least used the adhesive lined heat-shrink over your solder instead of the regular one, and that should do just fine for you.

Oh cool, I have access to a ratcheting barrel crimper at work. I was just wondering for future reference. Looks like I got a professional opinion. :thumb:

Thank you for taking the time to help me out!

Everything is going well! I was unaware that at idle and deceleration it would go into open loop. The car runs great! Definitely better than it never has since I've owned it. So much faster than before.

Thanks everyone. You all are great! :thumb:
 
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