Water Temp gauge install

nyknick1015

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to answer the question at hand its pretty much in teh same spot as 4cyl. Its on the thermostat housing usuall under the distributor. there is a small sensor with a single red wire. you splice your gauge wire with that wire (as long as its electric and not a hydrolic gauge) that sensor sends out a temperature reading to the gauge that you have.

the gage should have 3-4 wires running to it, red wire (to the sensor) a green wire (to light up the gauge at night) a white wire (usually to the ignition but most lower end gauges dont have it) and a black wire (which is your ground)

Make sure u splice it properly because if you dont then your temp gauge on the dash will stop working
 
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NashvegasCG

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I'll take a pic shortly, but after looking down there I see two sensor type plugs both with two wires... Neither one only has 1 wire, and I thought I would need to change the whole sender out..
 

Drift

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what year is your car? If its a 00-02, you wont have a sender port to use in the head. You'll have to place the sender in the rad hose using an adapter.
 

Drift

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It's a 2000 AV6...you totally lost me..

In 98-99 models, Honda used a Temp sender that is wired directly to the cluster. In the later models, the 00-02, there is no temp sender, only the ECT sensor. So the ECT sends a signal to the ECU, and then the ECU decodes that signal and sends it over to the cluster. Basically, there isnt a space in the head of any 00-02 F or J series engines for a temp sender.

So, in order to install an after market temp gauge, you need one of these:

img-467-1-large.jpg
And you should put it in the upper rad hose.
 

NashvegasCG

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In 98-99 models, Honda used a Temp sender that is wired directly to the cluster. In the later models, the 00-02, there is no temp sender, only the ECT sensor. So the ECT sends a signal to the ECU, and then the ECU decodes that signal and sends it over to the cluster. Basically, there isnt a space in the head of any 00-02 F or J series engines for a temp sender.

So, in order to install an after market temp gauge, you need one of these:

img-467-1-large.jpg
And you should put it in the upper rad hose.


GREEEEAAAAAAT...So what are those two sensors I'm seeing. What do these cost, and can you buy them at auto stores? What's the size I need.. I notice that 28mm is the most common.
 
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nyknick1015

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thats probably your best bet to put that insert on the radiator hose just so you dont have to splice in any major wires. If you do plan to go that route, then i suggest to put it on your lower radiator hose since if your cooling system is ever clogged, the temp of that hose usually would let you know where it is.

With that attachment, you are gonna need this
img-411-1-large.jpg

http://www.nipponpower.com/product.phtml?p=411

as for the first pic
http://www.nipponpower.com/product.phtml?p=467
 

Drift

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thats probably your best bet to put that insert on the radiator hose just so you dont have to splice in any major wires. If you do plan to go that route, then i suggest to put it on your lower radiator hose since if your cooling system is ever clogged, the temp of that hose usually would let you know where it is.

With that attachment, you are gonna need this
img-411-1-large.jpg

http://www.nipponpower.com/product.phtml?p=411

as for the first pic
http://www.nipponpower.com/product.phtml?p=467


Why would he need a switch too? did I miss something in this thread? (I honestly only read the last page).

Also, I wouldn't recommend putting it in the lower hose, that would make it useless until the thermostat opens up. The upper hose is where is should be placed so it can take temp readings at any time, not just when the car is warm.
 

nyknick1015

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Why would he need a switch too? did I miss something in this thread? (I honestly only read the last page).

Also, I wouldn't recommend putting it in the lower hose, that would make it useless until the thermostat opens up. The upper hose is where is should be placed so it can take temp readings at any time, not just when the car is warm.

well in the radiator adapter thing, there is a little screw on spot for a temp sensor. In that little hole. Its either you put the stock sensor or an after market one. aftermarket one just eases up installation so you dont have to splice any stock wires

and the only reason why i recommended putting on the lower hose is because there are times when your gonna get problems in the cooling system and it will allow you to better determine where the problem is along with the stock gauge. If the upper hose is cold (aka stock thermostat and dash temp gauge) then you can determine that the problem is in the radiator, if the lower hose is cold then you can determine that the problem is somewhere in the cooling system AFTER the thermostat. Also if you see there is a dramatic temp difference in the dash from the gauge, you know to there is a potential problem b4 something breaks

thats just IMO. if you put it on the upper hose, thats just a waste of a gauge because the reading is gonna be the same as the dash gauge. At least the lower hose will give it a bit more function to it
 
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