I have just bought a '57 Ford Fairlane with a temperature gauge showing nothing at all. Embarrassing as it can be, could you please tell where the temperature sender is located on a y-block 272?. On the lefthand side of the engine, I can see two senders of some kind going into the engineblock. How do I test the sender to see if this is the culprit.

Thanks

Claus

First off, does the fuel gauge work?  If neither work, it is probably the instrument cluster voltage regulator under the dash, fastened to the back side of the gauge cluster.  If only the temperature gauge doesn't work, you can start checking the system by pulling the wire off the sender (it is at the back of the driver's side head, behind the last intake manifold bolt) and connecting the wire to a ground.  Turn on the ignition switch, the gauge should read full scale to the hot side.  Don't leave the power on any longer than necessary for this test.  If the gauge reacts, the sender is bad.  If it still doesn't react, make sure both wires are connected to the back of the gauge.  Find the one that goes to the sender, and ground it at the gauge.  Be careful to not ground the "hot" wire to the gauge.  If the gauge reacts, then the wire to the sender has a problem.  If the gauge still doesn't react, it is bad.

Yes. The fuel gauge works.

There are 2 "inserts" going into the engine at the mentioned place. There is one red wire(obviously new) going to the top insert and a black wire going to the lower insert. I have tried to ground the lower/black wire with no result on the gauge(ignition switch turned on).

I will have to look into the wiring behind the dash.

Best regards,

Claus

Am I looking at the wrong parts?. Is the temp. sender located at the cyl. head?

Best regards,

Claus

Yes, the temperature sender is located on the back of the HEAD on the driver's side, opposite the distributor.

Now I have taken a photo of the 2 thingies I mentioned earlier. Which one do you think is the temp. sender?

Claus

Claus

Here is an example of a 292 automatic sender:

This engine was shipped this way and sitting on a pallet.  Follow the white wire to the temp sender.

It's not a great shot but you get the idea.  Temp sender is under your (automatic) linkage plate (it comes off with two bolts).  The sender belongs here because this is the hottest area of your engine.
Hope this helps.  - Dave

Note from Ted.  Pictures were removed due to taking too long to display and hindering new posts from being submitted.  Although the pictures were sized larger than desired, this appears to be a problem more associated with Comcast being used as the host site as the Photobucket hosted pictures do come up much quicker.

Claus

Avoid putting temperature sending units in the front of the thermostat or in the coolant path between the thermostat and the radiator.  This will give a delayed temperature reading and also can give a misleading or a artifically lower reading when the thermostat is not functioning correctly.

The ideal location for the temperature sending unit for most engines is actually right behind the thermostat before the water exits the engine going back to the radiator.  Although the temperature gauge will read a warmer temperature with the sender moved to the forward location on the Y, the indicated reading will be more representative of the real or actual engine temperature.  The temperature sending unit being placed at the rear of the head on the Y arbitrarily makes for a cooler than actual temperature reading as coolant flow through the head is not yet complete nor fully heated at that point.