A while back i posted about a stange temp gauge, well it turned out to be the cylinder head temp sensor. Well at the moment i dont really have the time to change it out, so my question is will i really hurt anything by driving it with the sensor being bad or should i make sure to replace it before i do alot of driving.

fyi its in a 98 4.6 lol im sure that doesnt matter but ya never know

 

Probab'ly won't do a lot of harm, but remember: one sensor giving a bad (or non) reading could make your entire system run "open loop", meaning not taking reading from anything, including the O2 sensors, and running rich as hell. Which could damage your cats over time.

Take the five minutes and replace the sensor. You'll be glad you did.

 

ya thats what pretty much went through my head also.
any tips or tricks to take into account before i tackle this, well other then the few i found using teh search.
sure sounds like a pain in the ***

 

I think there's enough room to reach in there to get at it, - maybe not. I haven't tried that yet. If you can't , - yea , it's a good size job for that little sucker. 4 hrs I bet, if the manifold has to come off, -which is what I think might have to happen. You sure that sensors bad? It's basically just a brass bulb in a dry port in the head, - sits in a dry pocket and doesn't see ANY chemicals or contaminants. I would check it's harness first.

As Filmy metioned, - CHT shoots input to the PCM , to calculate fuel delivery. A bad CHT could also put your engine in Limp mode and/or Failsafe mode. - worse case I guess.

 

Just curious, but how did you diagnose that it was the CHT?

Your 98' has both a coolant temp sensor and cylinder head temp sensor, so, what was the problem??

 

i took it to a shop and thats what they diagnosed it as. i already had changed out the one that goes to the gauge and it didnt fix it.

i have a 98 4.6 4x4 with a strange problem. For some reason if i do any highway driving the guage will spike as if it was overheating, which its not. i have already changed the sensor that goes to it and didnt help. i can drive all day long in town and it doesnt affect the guage. everything acts/runs fine and all i just dont like seeing the guage pegged and light be on, kind of unnerving lol

other then the gauge being in the red and the temp light on it runs like a champ

 

just thought id give a follow up, i did change out the cht and it did fix the problem. Also i did not have to take the manifold, it was a pain but you can get to it