Hi,

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

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.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

Thanks.

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

Shouldn't the temp sender be in the driver-side head? The one on the side of the block is the oil pressure switch isn't it?


Lawrenceville, GA

Thanks for the input, but I am somewhat confused by my engine. These two inserts with wiring are located on the driverside, near the front of the engine. They are located between the motormount and the cylindric thing nearest the front of the car/engine/away from the driver - at the side of the engineblock itself. The mentioned cylinder is not the oilfilter as far as I know.

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

Best regards,

Claus

Claus:

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

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

Hi,

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

Claus

Thanks. Why on earth would someone place the temp sender there?. I do have an automatic and as you state, there are some rods as stated and space is very limited. Does it make sense to change the location of the temp sender as it will require some rework of the rods etc?. And if the heads have been rearranged I guess it will require a new head?

Claus

It's hard to know why someone moved your temp sender.  Both heads can be swapped (with changes to the freeze plug on one head, and sender hole on the other head).  Without seeing your situation, maybe someone had your heads off and they reinstalled them on opposite sides.  Moving the sender might be a work-around from damaged threads or a broken-off sender, too.  I don't know.

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.

Royal Oak, Michigan (Four miles north of Detroit, and 12 miles NORTH of Windsor, Canada).  That's right, we're north of Canada.

Ford 292 Y-Block major overhaul by simplyconnected

If the sender has been moved to the drain cock hole, the white wire would be the wrong one to connect to it anyway.  White is the color for the oil pressure switch wire.  As Dave alluded, the bottom of the block would be the coolest part of the engine, the sender needs to be in the hottest.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"