Bad temp senders - lights, not gauges

[Accelo]

"they claim they've sold dozens of the ones from Lectric with no returns"

That's what they all say. With China parts the consumer is quality control. I expect the others were just fed up and decided it wasn't worth the hassles to return them.

My friend builds coffee pots and has many of the same issues. A valve, that is critical to the function, was make here without issues. The manufacture move the process to Mexico. They immediately started having quality issues. The manufacture quality tested them and they claimed they were fine. With out a resolution he flew to Mexico. Their calibration equipment was off. Can't even get that right. Sad isn't it?

[Arne]

Some specs from NAPA. Their sender is boxed as Echlin. I will drop by to see it in person. I can identify the Standard part by eye now.

'G' terminal (COLD light) Off @ 103°F

'R' Terminal (HOT light) On @ 243-263°F

[Southcity]

Thanks, Arne, keep us posted.

[Arne]

The current NAPA/Echlin offering appears to also be made by whoever makes the Standard brand senders. Not helpful.

I found a pair of NOS that are most definitely NOT the same, as they have the older style crimped end. I have both of them on their way.

[Southcity]

Excellent, let's hope this net's good results once installed. Keep us posted and thanks.

[Grounded63]

A few years ago, I had similar issues. With sensors being bad out of the box. They would test fine with a multimeter at ambient temp. But, the cold indicator light would never turn off. Regardless of what the engine temp was.

Thanks for providing the cold / hot temp specs.

[Arne]

Received a pair of NOS senders today, unknown manufacturer, but definitely not the same-old-same-old. Both senders are (properly) closed circuit on terminal G at ambient temp. I was able to get one to go open by running it under hot water in the garage sink, although it took longer than I expected. The other one was more reluctant to go open, but given manufacturing tolerances and the fact that the hot water in my sink probably doesn't exceed 115°F, I'm not going to condemn it yet.

I installed the one that tested good on the light-off part, but I've got the front springs out of the truck now, so no test drive yet. Probably Tuesday sometime.

[Southcity]

Thank you for the update and hoping the test drive is successful. Looking forward to updates as they come.

[Arne]

I haven't driven it yet, but I did start it in the open garage and warm it up today, and the light went out as expected. So far, so good.

[Southcity]

That is encouraging, let us know how it works out once you've had a chance to do some more testing.

[Braunschweiger]

That's gratifying, hopefully the sender will last for a while.

[Southcity]

Arne - how is the temp sensor holding up/performing for you these days?

[Arne]

It has worked as expected, every time. It's lasted longer than any of the previous senders. I suspect I'm done changing senders for a while.

[Southcity]

Encouraging news for the rest of us that have also suffered through this. Looks like I will have to track one or two of the same kind down. Any info you can provide on vendor, part #'s etc. would be appreciated. Thanks!