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Temp Gauge Sender

1K views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  Evilcowboy420 
#1 ·
I wanted to get some help on this one. The engine in my s10 is a 4.3L V6 Pre-Vortec 1993. My gauge is always on cold so I thought hey just replace the temp sensor and it will be good. So of course like everyone I replaced the one with the yellow and black wires next to the t-stat housing. Then after a bit of research I realized there is one in the side of the cylinder head.

Now here is the problem. It is simply unplugged. I thought no problem plug it back in. Well turns out after searching all over the engine bay for the connector I cannot find it any where. So I was wondering if anyone out there can let me know the color of the wire and if someone has a pic of the pigtail and where I should be tracing it to to find it.

I have read a couple of people say its a single green wire. However theirs is also in the passenger side cylinder head. mine is in the drivers side so not sure if their the same.

Secondly I have a thought on this as well. Later GM tied both to the CTS so only one sensor was needed. My thought is if the single green wire can be tied into the yellow wire to make the front CTS control the gauge and send the ecm its information? I am assuming the black wire is ground and the yellow wire is sending the computer the actual temp of the engine. Again this is just a thought and a bit of speculation but in my mind it makes sense.


Also another question for someone who knows a bit more about the 4L60E tranny. When I was researching the common problems of the tranny I came across the delay before shifting into drive. I read it is caused by a cracked forward accumulator piston since GM used plastic crappy ones. So I thought ok just replace it. So I got prepared to drop the valve body and noticed my pan was quite deep. When upon dropping the pan (mount and cross member needed to come off to get the pan to drop) the forward accumulator was very accessible and took 3 minutes to change. No dropping of the valve body necessary. It was my understanding that in a truck from 93 this should not have happened and I should have needed to drop the valve body to replace it. Also the 1-2 accumulator piston was aluminum not plastic. Now is that usually the nature of the deep pan tranny or did someone replace it with a newer model.

I went with a sonnax pinless forward and replaced the other with a new one just for the hell of it since I had it off. As a side note the trans fluid looked very good. The pan was leaking and had been RTV glued on with make a gasket. It was a very shotty attempt at making a gasket for it. After I replaced the gasket and cleaned it up it sealed up nice. Last leak is from the tail shaft seal. Oh and I replaced the mount since it was 4 bucks for a new one from autozone and the old one the center of it just fell out of it.
 
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#2 · (Edited)
I've avoided the thread about problems of the 4L60E.

Plastic accumulator pistons weren't used until the very late 90's.

This is a forward accumulator. It's a 1999 4L60E.


This is the 1-2 accumulator. Early style, this one out of a 1999.


I doubt you got the two pistons mixed up because they are not the same size.

Unless somehow you have a 4L60/700R4. This is the forward accumulator for that. Sometimes called the auxillary valvebody. This came out of a 1993 corvette.

Pretty sure all of these can be replaced without dropping the valve body.
A cracked forward accumulator piston will cause pressure loss in all gears and lead to transmission failure. A delay into drive is a sign of a worn transmission.
 
#3 ·
Yep I replaced both of those. Thanks for the pics. nothing was really off about the accumulators in there. I expected to see a broken spring or something. I was leaning to the transmission being worn but I would have expected to find some sort of debris in the pan and there was nothing but your typical grey stuff in the bottom but not enough to be worried about.

I should also give all the info available I have on the truck and it may spring something to mind. So as far a wiring goes it is a nightmare. Someone hacked into the original harness to do some stuff with a stereo. They disconnected a black box that has 3 wires all black the writing is worn off. They fitted it with cadillac taillights (yes the long skinny ones) and the reverse lights are trailer lights. They really cobbed stuff up in the truck. Now back to the tranny. Being as it is an electronic transmission is there anything I can check to make sure the computer just isn't putting it into limp home mode? What exactly is electronic that can cause transmission issues other than the TPS?

Thanks for your help on the tranny. Any info on the temp sender wire color and where the harness typically comes from?
 
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