Temperature sending unit will not unscrew. Any ideas?

Hey guys,

Thanks to the many, many people here that have provided me so much insight as to why my temp gauge on my 1999 ford exploder "explorer" might be peggin' hot.....

The other day as my 2 yr old daughter and I were drivin' down the the local sams club, I noticed the car started overheating........so I got it home asap and researched some troubleshooting tips......I let the car sit overnight and checked it the next mornin' and "bam" the car was showin' the same heat as it was the day before....needle pegged up near hot......after my research on this forum, a few things popped up...."bad temp sending unit"....or possibly "thermostat"..but not as likely since it shows hot even when the car is off.....and after it sat overnight.....

Low and behold, I learned, here...that if yer gonna try to swap out yer temp sending unit, you mine as well, change yer thermostat...so i bought the parts and had em' shipped in.......

With my handy dandy internet directions in hand...I went at it.....starting at 1:30 P.M today...........

Temp sending unit and Ect unit (or somethin' of that nature) are both located at the top of the thermostat housing......and naturally I assumed the temp sending unit was the one on the right....."WRONG"....found this out after I unscrewed the right one....that had a significantly smaller screw......darn i thought.....that was a waste of 30 mins gettin' that booger out...not to mention the time my wife had to stand there pointing the flashlight....;-) what a trooper......

So...I get to the left one and start crankin' at it..."lefty losey, righty tighty" i reminded myself.....this of course after my 5th trip to the neighbors house to get more appropriate tools......the deeper I dug...the more I thought...there's gotta be a better tool than this......on my 6th trip, the neighbor did not have the tool of choice.....one of those 3/4" wrenches that are in a circle and can clamp down over the unit itself onto the nut....and then crank it loose...without havin' to pull it off everytime.....(don't know what they're called but they're great..highly recommend"......) so i headed to lowes...yeah...49.99 just what i needed...i'm doin' this to save money right??? right........at least i'll have somethin' to show for the money i actually spent....i thought.....o.k. i'll buy the entire set of 18 thingamagiggy's....

I get back home, start crankin' some more....and after 25 mins, I'm thinkin' wtfrank.....why is this not comin' loose.......after i dabbed off the beautiful flouresent antifreeze from the base, i noticed the female gold lug/housing (built into the top of the thermostat housing area) where my temp sending unit is screwed into......is turnin' with every single turn........

So that's where I'm at.....apparently this gold housing portion came loose from the body and my temp sending unit is stuck into it....still screwed in......and ironically, won't come loose.......

Does this mean, now after 7 hours of messing with the infamous "i'm too large to fit from this point to that point radiator hoses" and the "i gonna pinch off every last finger clamps" that I'm royally screwed????

Believe it or not, I did finally just put it all back together in case I decide to drive it with a busted temp sending unit....

So, new thermostat is in.....
The radiator is 3 years new......

Anybody have an idea where to go from here? Besides the BAR??

ryan

www.ryannicholson.com
www.myspace.com/ryno

Welcome to this forum! Could you post a picture of the part that you're having trouble removing? I've deleted your other thread since it's identical to this one.

Please do post a picture if at all possible. If it's free spinning you can try putting some JB-weld around the base to secure it. But make absolutely certain it's not suppose to freely spin first.

thanks for that advice...excali....i just looked up the weld product and looks like it, unfortunately, doesn't bond to wet material.....and since the temp sending unit is right above (closer to the cab) my thermostat, it gets drenched in anti-freeze.....including the "female thread" portion that should be solidly attached to the housing.......i'll try to get in there somehow to take a pict so ya'll can see what a booger this has been.....arg!!

oh, i did see they have wet-weld, but that appears to be a moldable putty....and I need somethin' (welding product) that can drip down into the area around the outside of the female thread....in wet areas to secure....did i say arg!!

lol..

thanks again for everything guys...

ryan

rynomusic444 said:

thanks for that advice...excali....i just looked up the weld product and looks like it, unfortunately, doesn't bond to wet material.....and since the temp sending unit is right above (closer to the cab) my thermostat, it gets drenched in anti-freeze.....including the "female thread" portion that should be solidly attached to the housing.......i'll try to get in there somehow to take a pict so ya'll can see what a booger this has been.....arg!!

oh, i did see they have wet-weld, but that appears to be a moldable putty....and I need somethin' (welding product) that can drip down into the area around the outside of the female thread....in wet areas to secure....did i say arg!!

lol..

thanks again for everything guys...

ryan

Click to expand...

I'm having the same problem!!! any luck yet?

The reason the ECT and/or temp gauge sender will spin in your Thermostat housing, is because of the poor design Ford used with brass nuts in the housing that the sensors screw into, are weakly held in place in a poor quality plastic housing. Even if you get them out successfully, the torque needed to seal them up again, will probably spin the brass nuts.
I went to:
http://www.ahwooga.com/detail.asp?id=60272
and bought a new & better designed housing unit....with both sensors & new thermostat included. The new sensors plug right into a ring seal orifice and are held in place with simple snap rings...no torque needed to seal them properly.
This housing replacement should be standard procedure whenever you have to replace either sensor. You will need to pull the intakes off anyways, so you might as well replace everything under there that you think may break down. (including the front cam chain tensioner and oil galley plug & filler piece)

Since it was not mentioned this is a SOHC Engine problem...

The OHV engine has an aluminum lower intake which doesn't allow the ECT or the temp gauge coolant sensors to spin freely...and the thermostat is mounted in the front of the lower intake as well...

There has been other threads about replacing this thermostat housing with one from a later engine...Apparently the design is better for retention of the 2 sensors...