Installing water temp gauge

[Robinhood4x4]

I'm thinking about installing a temp gauge just to see what kind of temps I'm hitting out here in arizona.

Where does one normally install the electrical sender for a coolant temperature gauge? What kind of connections are needed?

[Robinhood4x4]

bump

[Rrumbler]

Normally, the sender will be located in the return path of the water from the engine to the radiator: in the water neck between the engine and radiator, for instance. There may be an access point on the manifold near the water neck, or on the block, if there is no water passages in the intake manifold - I'm not real familiar with the Toy 3L, but that is the most usual place for one. The electrical hookup is a switched (ign) pos to one side of the gauge, and a single wire from the gauge to the sender; it grounds through the block. If you get a gauge from one of the major names, it will have all of the necessary info, and should have the right parts and/or adapters with it.

[Robinhood4x4]

On the 3.0 the return hose clamps onto a plastic thermostat housing which I could probably drill and tap for a sender. However, don't I want to know the temperature of the water before it gets cooled off by the radiator?

[91_4x4runner]

No... you want the temperature as it enters the engine. This is where it matters. If it is too hot going into the engine, you know you have a problem. You already know it will have a high temperature exiting.

[Marc P]

I used the existing ports at the back of the engine. With an infared temp guage it is close to the temps at the radiator entrance. I feel confident with the readings I get from the aftermarket guage on my dash.

[Robinhood4x4]

There are ports at the back of the engine?! Where are these said ports?

[cooldry]

If you want something that's really easy to install and gives you more info, have you thought about the scangauge II. I'm going to get one and from what I've read, I haven't heard anyone say anything bad about it. I'm sure some people on this forum have one.

http://www.scangauge.com/

[Robinhood4x4]

The only thing is it won't work for an OBD1 vehicle (older than 96). Plus it still uses the same temp sender so you can't check to see if the temp sender is bad.