We have a 97 Ram 1500 with 5.9L Engine 4 x 4. The engine blew a rod and ruined the block. We found another engine from a 98 Ram 1500 with 5.9L Engine. We rebuilt that engine and have just put the engine into the truck. The old engine (97) had 2 temperature sensors in the engine and the new engine (98) only has a spot for 1 temperature sensor. We are using the wiring harness from the 97 which has 2 connectors for the temperature sensor, 1 with a single wire and 1 with two wires. We plugged the 2 wire connector into the temperature sensor. Started the truck up fine but the temperature gage does not work (doesn't move). Any ideas on how to convert this over so it is sensing temperature?

 

Drill and tap the manifold where it's blank for the other sensor or swap manifolds and fix the plenum while it's off.

 

^ +1.
i'd swap the intakes and fix the plenum.

in the meantime, you can drive it like it is.

 

That was what we thought of doing while the engine was still out but we thought it may work without it. Ended up taking off just enough accessories to get to a spot in the intake that was ready for us to tap. Got the new sensor in there and hooked up both and now the temperature gauge seems to work.

Another question, does the transmission need to be aligned in anyway? It just feels like it is not quite right. This is the first engine we have rebuilt so we may be just overthinking it since it went pretty smooth.