ECT help – rock and a hard place?

[Mike's brother]

This is likely a silly question, but I can't find a direct answer so I'm just asking straight away.

I'm in the middle of a bunch of upgrades, nose off for winch install, front end stripped bare for ball joints and bushings all around, stainless exhaust, rock sliders ... you all know what it's like.

So I'm waiting for parts in the mail and paint to dry, so I thought I'd tackle an easy repair. Before I rolled into the garage, the truck would only start cold and idle high. As soon as it warmed up, it stalled and wouldn't restart. FORScan showed me the code for ECT error, with coolant temp reading -4 degrees no matter how warm the engine got.

Easy, right? New sensor from Autozone, toss in a new thermostat, and we're done.

Of course it took me three mind-numbing hours to get the the upper thermostat housing off -- rust everywhere. The three bolts were essentially headless, and needed a Vice-Grip at 1/16 turn between resets to remove (I bought new stainless bolts to replace them).

Now, I've got the upper housing off and the thermostat out, replaced a bad PCV elbow along the way ... but for the life of me I can figure out how to get the damned ECT sensor out. Metal clip is off, it even rises about 1/8 inch, but there's simply no room to lift it more. Judging by the new one, it needs to lift another 1/2 inch to clear the lower thermostat housing (which I'm trying very hard not to break). Tried pulling the plug off first, and that needs another 3/8 it doesn't have underneath the intake.

Here's where I am:

So, is this a right of passage thing? Am I really stuck between removing the intake manifold or the lower thermostat housing just to get the ECT sensor replaced?

Say it ain't so.

(and if so, which one's the smarter way to go ... and while I'm there, what other common problem should I fix?)

As always, thanks for sharing the wisdom.

:exp:

 

[boominXplorer]

After you do it a few times you can have the upper intake off in 10 minutes. If you remove the housing you better replace it. They fail so much and that job is a pain.

 

[Mike's brother]

After you do it a few times you can have the upper intake off in 10 minutes. If you remove the housing you better replace it. They fail so much and that job is a pain.

Thanks Boomin. I'll consider this a learning moment and get that manifold lifted. Here's to the adventure.

 

[boominXplorer]

7 mm for throttle cables, t30 for hold down bolts and a few vacuum lines and plugs to unattach and your there. Wiggle and pull to release it from the egr tube, it's held by just an oring.