Hey. Was just under the hood of my 88 F150 XLT Lariat, 5.0L V8 changing out rad hoses. That's when I saw it. There's a sensor type thing just aft of the thermostat housing. Well, that thing has busted. What I mean by that is when I was manoeuvering the wires out of the way, the whole thing pulled away from whatever it was attached to, leaving a bit with two metal pins, in line vertically. Any ideas what this is?

UPDATE: Took another look at it today as I was battling a starter solenoid that decidedto commit hari-kiri. It's got a grey top and blue body, and seems to screw into the black somehow. I don't think it's the temp sensor. Could it be a vacuum switch of some kind? Totally at a loss as to what it is, much less what it does... but I know the wires aren't supposed to fall off like that.

 

If the wires that went to it are lt. green/yellow and black/white, then it's your ECT (engine coolant temp) sensor.

 

I'll have another peek later today. It's 0611, I just got in from work, and I'm going flatline. If it is the ECT, how hard is it to replace?

 

What is broken, the sensor or the wiring connector? Are you able to plug the harness connector back onto the sensor?

 

Ok wires are gree/yellow and black/white, so it's the ECT. And yes, the connector has somehow sheared itself off the sensor. I'm able to jam it back on, but it's not the best of fits and is rather loose.

 

Grab a pair of dikes and go to the junkyard and find another Ford EFI V8, and clip the wires to the connector, and splice it into your harness. Make sure to get as much wire with the new connector as you can.

Do this soon. Your ECM relies heavily on the info it gets from this sensor.

 

Ok, will do... but the kicker is that the plug part of the sensor is what's broken... the part the black plastic socket mates to comes off still connected to the plug. That whole thing has snapped. Wouldn't I just be better off just pulling the whole damn sensor?

 

Yes. i didn't fully understand where it was broken. If the connector is fine, and it's the sensor that is damaged, just replace the sensor.

 

Ok. The bit that the connector snaps onto has broken off of the sensor, and is jammed inside the connector itself. I fear if I try to remove the junk from inside the plug, I'll muck it up, and since I can't reattatch the broken bit to the sensor itself...

THe best way to describe it is take sensor, with plug attached... then snap the plug off of the sensor, like cracking a crab leg, so that you end up with a naked sensor, and a plug full of mounting bit previously located on sensor.

 

Replace the sensor, try removing the old parts from the connector. If you muck it up, go to the junk yard and get another connector.