temp sender

[pegasus]

Hello all,

I was wondering if anybody would be able to tell me were i could locate the temprature sender on a 4ze1, 2.6 petrol, i have been suffering from a lose of oil, went to a mechanic, he reckons its not burning the oil, its not leaking it, and rattled off something to do with the engine not warming up propper. I know it gets up to heat, but dosent really regester it on the needle, so im hoping all my problem is, is a dodge temp sender, or wiring.
i think i will start with the easy stuff before i start at looking at pulling the engine apart. I think i know where it is, but a bit hesitent to start yanking wires out !!
any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you all !!

[geeves]

It should be on the therostat housing but not sure which one. Not warming up is most likly the thermostat stuck open although lots of cars barly register on the gauge when warm. Before spending any money try giveing the car an easy 5 - 10km run then see how hot toe top tank on the radiator is. It should be just too hot to hold your hand on. This gives a temp in the radiator of around 60C so engine will be 80ish which is ok. Rough and ready but accurate enough to tell if its the gauge or thermostat.
To identify which wire goes to the sender with the ignition on but engine not running remove each wire in turn and touch it on the thermostat housing The right one will send the gauge to max. It helps to have someone else watching the gauge
Oil use is more of a concern Esspecialy if its not burning or leaking it. It has to go somewhere and these are the only two ways it can go. What age and milage and how much oil are we talking about.Anything less than a liter every 5000km would have to be considered normal. 3 or 4 times this is ok if the motors old.

[pegasus]

Hi Geeves

The truck is a 1990, done 150,000 ks. I think the thermo should be okay, like you say once i take it for a bit of a drive and pop the hood, there is no way i could hold onto the top of the radiator, without tears, + the previous owner said he changed the thermo about a year ago... the thing is, even after she is nice and hot the needle has only moved about 4mm, and it wont idle correctly (idels about 500 rpm to high), and when i chuck it in neutral and role to a stop it stays at 1500 rpm, tell i stop, then drops to about 1000rpm. maybe a speed sensor is buggered too.
i think i found the temp sensor on the inlet manifold, i figure its that one cause its also hooked up to the AC. and it looks like one

cheers

[geeves]

Temp gauge is easy 4mm up gauge is normal operating temp. Mines a 2.8 diesel but is virtualy the same. Only worry when it doesnt sit here. Mechy was telling porkys.
With the bad idle first I would suspect a sticking throttle cable but do remember that most modern engines are set so lean that they will stall if reved then expected to idle straight away. The computer compensates by holding a fast idle for a few secs This part sounds normal. The 500rpm is a little low and might need tweeking and a spray of crc over the linkages. The sensor on the inlet manifold will also cause fast idle when the air con is on This is normal and nessecsary.
This just leaves the oil use. How much are you going through?Also if you take the oil filler cap off with the engine running is there lots of steamy smoke? Oil splatter is normal smoke indicates leaking rings or head. If its a head you will also be loseing water.

[pig75]

I'm 99% sure the sender is the one in the bottom of inlet manifold under the thermostat housing

[pegasus]

Hello,

na throttle cable is sweet, i have already looked at it, its as smooth as butter, and the return is nice and strong.
as soon as i start the truck she runs smooth at about 1250revs, if i rev it, it just comes back to that point, no stalling, when its warm i would say it sits at about 750revs, and still can rev it okay with no stalling or anything out of the ordenery, just the strangest thing to me, is i can just cost along in Neutral, and the revs will stay at 1500, until i stop i can cost for 5 sec to 1min and she will just stay at 1500.
i dont use my air con at all.
ill have a look under the filler cap with her running tomorrow havent done this yet, do it when she is hot i guess?
she has not used any water since i have had her.
well i would say within one week, i had lost about 2 litres, of oil,
i checked it on Monday, it was fine, and that Friday, my oil light had popped on, only really quickly when i was flying around, a round about. drained the oil out the next day got at max, including the oil filter 2.5 litres out of it.
but i have been avoiding driving her since the oil lose. i work nights and drive along way to work, so cant afford to be runnng out of oil on the way, or coming home from work.
I have been running castrol mahnatec in it 10/40, may be this is not think enough??

[Paaji]

10w40 is a bit thin for an donk that's done 150k, unless you live in a cold climate. Suggest you go with GTX2 if you want to stay on Castrol.

J

[pegasus]

Hello, I work nights, so when ever i start it up/drive it, its as cold as it can get, + i live in nz.
ill chuck some of that GTX2 in her for the next oil change, which might be sooner than later.
Cheers.

[geeves]

That quantity of oil in that shot time suggests somthing realy wrong. If its a manual try getting a finger past the clutch fork boot to see whats in the bell housing. (if auto there might be a way to check but dont know) The only place it can leak and not show is into the bell housing. If it was burning that much there would be a noticable cloud following you.
I would be changing the oil and then keeping a close eye on it for the next week or so and see what happens.
The idle prob is possibly a sensor but might be the computer. Either way it will cost more to fix the the value of the inconvieniance caused. Not worth worrying about.

[pegasus]

Hi geeves, yup its a manual, my 1st thought was it has to be leaking into the bellhousing, but could not see, feel, smell any sign of oil in there, and i think with that much oil going in there i would have lost my clutch by now. Im not worried about the idel either, really does not worry me.
im so confused, if it was a burning i wouldnt be able to see out the back window, its not leaking any where i can see... no puddles where i park it. & no sign of oil underneith of the car
maybe some is coming around at night and stealing my oil....
there is black gunk spitting out the exhaust, but looks more like water and soot mixed, and stops doing it after it been ran for a while. maybe im just crazy...
i guess there is nothing i can really do except keep an eye on her, and wait for something to go bang, or start to show up.

Cheers for the Help.