For the life of me I can not find the Coolant( or engine?) temp sensor in my 1991 b350 extended/ ram wagon/Maxivan (why so many names?) w the 5.9 V8.
everything under the sun is wrong with this van, but the oil pressure gauge light had always been on and dropped to zero recently and I replace the oil pressure sending unit and it fixed it. The odometer has never worked. The speedometer sometimes works. I seem to recall the temperature gage working because it used to overheat. But now the temperature gage goes from nothing to just slightly above cold and I drive with the dog house off so I know the engine is warm, hopefully not overheating. I’ve got a thermostat and a temperature sensor (do I need 2?) And would like to go about replacing them but I cannot find the damn sensor, or the thermostat for that matter.

I definitely don’t know a damn thing about cars but I’ve been able to keep this one running on my own (Firestone is the worst) despite its many many many flaws. So a picture would be super helpful, the picture in my repair manual (both of them) is god-awful and not helpful.

 

91 is TBI isn't it? Good chance you have two temp sensors. One should be on the passenger side of the engine, near the tube for the heater hose, on the front of the intake. The other is probably near the thermostat housing..... One wire sensor will be for the gauge.

 

I do believe it is TBI. What that means is above my head, i suppose it is fuel injected and not a carb. Engine terminology escapes me ( learned about cars on a prius, which basically has no engine). So the close quarters of a van (and doghouse) has me extra clueless. Also, the damn air cleaner blocks everything, so why does no repair manual specify to remove (or how to remove) this giant hunk of uselessness?

 

Also, does anyone know how many freeze plugs this 360 LA 5.9 engine has? A mechanic in utah told me i had to remove the engine to replace one but that i would need to sooner rather than later. Having some no pressure building problems in the radiator (but no overheating, according to temp gauge).

 

Need to find out where the pressure is going. The freeze plugs behind the engine mounts on the magnum engines liked to rust out, and leak..... Not sure if the LA motor has 'em in the same places.

 

Turns out the adapter for my radiator isn’t sealing. Still, I see some pin holes in my radiator neck so once I get the right adapter for my pressure tester we will see. Anyone have any objection to regular food coloring in the coolant?

 

If I genuinely had no pressure at all, wouldn’t my engine over heat very quickly?

 

Being under pressure just raises the boiling point a bit. Water+Coolant has a boiling point around 230 or so anyway, and your engine should NEVER get that hot.

 

Im so frustrated with this van and the complete lack of ability for any manual to explain how to remove the air cleaner so that i can do ANY of the things i want to fix. It is in the way of EVERYTHING yet no explanation what so ever of how to remove the god damned thing. What screws do i remove? What lines? What holds the god damned thing in?

 

Is it just one of those round air cleaner housings that sit on top? Got a picture?