I am trying to install a mechanical water temp gauge and am not sure where to put the sensor into the motor. I have installed them before. But that was in a early model chevy 350. There it was located driver side front of engine below the headers. If anyone has any advice it would be great pics would be better. Thanks in advance.

 

The best place to install a sensor would be in the thermostat housing, below the thermostat.
You would have to drill a hole and thread it with an appropriately sized pipe thread tap.

Another alternative is connect an AeroForce gauge or ScanGauge II to the OBD II port. It would then display actual temperature.

 

The closer to the cylinder heads the better. Your heads get the hottest and need the most cooling; monitoring them will let you know how your coolant system is doing.

Mounting close to the thermostat is ok, but you may see the guage move more due to the cycling of the thermostat. (depending on your driving conditions of course).

 

All kinds of locations can be justified.

Yes, close to the head is correct for an inline, single head engine.
The location I recommended is best for the temp of the water leaving the engine, yet is still close to the engine. It takes into account the heat from both heads, and is the location chosen by many manufacturers.

 

I was speaking in theory rather than specifically replying to your suggestion. I worked in a shop for several years, and have seen folks mount their sensors on the radiator.

Lots of factory V-8s had their temp sensors mounted on only one cylinder head also...just saying.....

 

yea you show em who da man!!

 

Yeah, I know, that's why I said many manufacturers, not all.

Also, I'm not out to show anyone "who da man". I'm too old to care about such things.

 

hahaha i know, just messin around. sorry if that seemed inappropriate .you have helped me many times in the past, whether u know it or no. i personally take stock into what you and a few others have to say on here.

ok back the original thread

 

im not real up on this topic, so why would one want to mount it on the radiator itself, even to me that doesnt make sense

 

This is how I have understood it in the past.

A temp probe (for a gauge) near and before the thermostat will indicate how well the cooling system is working. It reads the temp of the engine in general; both heads and the water jacket. If it reads significantly higher than the thermostat rating, then you know something is wrong. In our case, when driving down the road, the gauge will indicate around 195°F, showing all is fine. When stopped and idling, or driving slowly, it will show up to 215°F, when the fan comes on, at which time it will drop to around 195°F, again showing all is fine.

A probe installed in one of the heads will show temps a lot higher than average engine temps, depending on load. Not really relevant when you want the gauge to indicate cooling system performance.