Temperature gauge wire colors

Tiny
TAWAS23
  • MEMBER
  • 1994 JEEP WANGLER YJ
  • 5.7L
  • V8
  • 4WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 163,000 MILES
I have the vehicle listed above with v8 swap and the builder didn't hook up temperature gauge up correctly. So I am asking if I could find out wire color from stock dash gauges and just run that wire to my sending unit that should fix my issue. Thanks, Eric
Monday, December 9th, 2019 AT 7:51 AM

4 Replies

Tiny
CARADIODOC
  • MECHANIC
  • 33,742 POSTS
There's two coolant temperature sensors for your model. The first one for the dash gauge you're looking for uses a violet/yellow wire. Dash gauge sending units always use a single wire.

The second diagram shows the coolant temperature sensor for the Engine Computer. Those always use two wires.
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Monday, December 9th, 2019 AT 3:17 PM
Tiny
TAWAS23
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  • 35 POSTS
Okay, great. So that I am clear I can either splice into the violet/yellow wire coming out from gauge panel plug on rear of cluster follow it or splice into that and run a wire to the temp sender for my gauge to read correctly. Correct? Being this was a V8 swap not sure if stock computer is even doing anything at all so the other sender I am guessing is deleted not being used.
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Tuesday, December 10th, 2019 AT 10:06 AM
Tiny
TAWAS23
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  • 35 POSTS
Will the violet/yellow wire color be the same out of dash gauge single plug on back of cluster only one plug on back that's where I am hoping I can tap into correct?
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Tuesday, December 10th, 2019 AT 12:24 PM
Tiny
CARADIODOC
  • MECHANIC
  • 33,742 POSTS
The plug shown in the first diagram is at the left side of the steering column, and the wire color is the same on both sides of that plug. The diagram doesn't show how it's connected to the instrument cluster, but the wire going up there should still be the same color. You can splice into that wire on either side of the plug.

The only other concern is the sending unit has to be matched to your gauge. Dash gauges are notoriously inaccurate and should only be used for you to notice when something is not normal. Since you're using the stock coolant temperature gauge, you'll want to use the original sending unit in the engine that came in the vehicle. If that is not possible because the threaded hole is the wrong size, you'll need to find a sending unit that fits and has the same resistance characteristics. This might take some searching since it's not a common type of repair. Where I would start is by looking on other engine sizes that came in your model, or for slightly older or newer years. The engineers would typically use the same dash gauges for all versions, so they would need sensors that had the same properties, even if the thread size was different.

You can also start out by measuring the resistance from the old sensor that doesn't fit and the new one that does fit. If they read roughly the same at the same temperature, that will be a good starting point.
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Tuesday, December 10th, 2019 AT 5:20 PM

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