only found one post on this...
apparently I can put the electric water temp sender for my autometer gauge in an unused port on the driver side of the 4.0L block?

I cannot replace my current water temp sender because the 'puter uses it to determine fuel mixture and idle.

This port is halfway up on the block and is near the exhaust. if the sender were in this location, would it accurately read water temp? is there a water jacket in this location?

is there a water jacket in this location

well theres only one way to find out isnt there:flipoff2: :flipoff2:

Your talking about the coolant drain plug on the side of the block. It'll read water temp inside the block not from the thermostat housing after it got a chance to run through the radiator. I'd guess the two would be two separate temps

so is there an easy solution to this? How much hotter would the sensor read if it were in the coolant drain plug position? Could I install the sensor on the radiator somewhere?

Originally posted by thenodnarb
Could I install the sensor on the radiator somewhere?
Anyone? can i install this on top next to the port?

Can't you splice into the one that's there? What about following the line that goes from the computer to the dash?

the signal from the stock one is way off (anywhere from 200 ohms to 350,000 ohms) while the autometer uses a much different signal. the signal from the computer to the dash travels through the CCD bus, which is a computer signal and cannot be interpreted without the stock gauge cluster.
BTW there is no room that I can see to drill and tap on the thermostat housing. at least that I can see

Could you not remove the factory sensor, install a short nipple in it's place, then put a "tee" on the nipple? Then put the factory sensor, and the autometer guage into the tee?

i had considered that. not sure if it will be accurate since the coolant wont be flowing past it.

HASN'T ANYONE DONE THIS?

If you use brass fittings, the brass will give you almost perfect heat transfer to the sending units. I have done this in the past to check accuracy of guages and found there to be no discernable difference.

I tried to T off of the thermostat housing and it wouldn't work. There is a small boss on the front of the housing I am going to try and drill and tap that with a 3/8 npt.

turns out they make this trick little T fitting that works perfectly for the heater hose line. Its got 2, 5/8" push on fittings and a 3/8" tapped hole that is perfect for the sender. $13.

A nice pic of where to tap the thermostat housing can be found here:
CJ Offroad Thread (http://cjoffroad.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=49)

I'll probably make the same attempt to tap the thermostat housing that was made here when I get that far.

Yup, that is where I am going to try and tap mine.

Where did you find that T fitting?

Any update on this. What sending unit are you using? I drilled and tapped my therm. housing this past weekend and the gauge is not reading. I am thinking I need a different sensor. My local parts stores don't carry a temp. sensor for my 90 YJ.