Wolf_n_Kat wrote:
Hey, I've changed out one of those!! Admittedly, it was a completely unrelated car and engine...
Jerry, those little suckers are 'maybe' about 3" OAL, and the hex head can be anywhere from 3/4" to 1". Like Griff said, they can be a wooly booger to find because it's kind of like trying to find a particular rivet on the Golden Gate Bridge - especially if the wire has come loose. (which is a pretty good analogy, considering most of that little basket-case is inside the engine block!)
I tried hunting it up, but the Haynes manual is relatively useless. Good luck!!
Oh hey, Griff... You mentioned getting 10 years out of the battery on your 1990 E-150? In 2009 the battery in my wife's 1992 Ford F-150 SWB 4X4 'gave up the ghost'. I went and picked up a new battery, and when I pulled the old one out I thought "You know, that battery tray looks awfully clean and shiny..." Looked at the old battery and turns out it was Motorcraft. 17 years on a factory original battery!
How often does something like THAT happen?!? :-D
Let me guess -- your wife's F-150 is a daily driver, primarily used for short trips around town and is rarely parked for more than a day or two between trips?
The kind of driving that's hard on fuel mileage and engine oil is actually very good for extending battery life.
Long battery life is more common than most people realize. Someone on the 'net said, "Most car batteries don't die -- they're murdered." With a little bit of care, a VRLA battery could easily outlast the vehicle it's in.
I know a semi-retired heavy equipment operator who's about 20 years older than me. He has a bulldozer left over from his working days, with a BCI group 4D battery that was 10 years old when he retired at age 65. (He showed me the receipt.) Nowadays, he mainly uses the bulldozer to plow his driveway in the winter.
When he's not using the bulldozer, he keeps a multi-stage charger/maintainer on the battery, with a timer that turns the charger on every three days. It's an open cell battery so he checks the electrolyte monthly. In the winter, he uses an engine hoist and cart to move the battery into his heated garage. (4D batteries are heavy and expensive, which is why he uses an engine hoist and performs regular maintenance.)
Extended idle periods (more than three days) are hard on battery life. Added to that is the fact the electronics in newer vehicles are a parasitic load that slowly drains the battery when the vehicle is not being used.
I like your "rivet" analogy when it comes to finding the coolant temp sensor. However, if I recall correctly, the sensor in older Mopar engines is only about one inch long and the stud has 8-32 threads. (If I get a chance, I'll try to find one of my spares to verify this.)
If I'm not in a hurry, I replace the OEM push-on connector with a ring terminal and lock it between two nuts on the stud. (The push-on connector has an annoying tendency to become loose and fall off.) I also use a Q-tip to apply a little dielectric grease to the stud, nuts, and ring terminal. (I also a little dielectric grease when I'm in a hurry and just push the OEM connector on the stud.)
As I've said before, be careful when applying the dielectric grease. The brass colored hex base is the ground part of the circuit and any dielectric grease that spans between the stud and hex base will create a short circuit that bypasses the sensor.
