Short Turbo Temp Sensor?

[Tom]

Anyone have a current source for a short temp sensor for the turbo? I got my current one at Napa, part #FS158, many years ago and just noticed the wire is frayed where it comes out of the potting material (so not really repairable). It's needed to accommodate the bigger turbo under the intake. Napa is "out of stock" nationally it seems, and I can't seem to find a suitable replacement...

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[cda951]

Hi Tom,

I wish I had a source for a short temperature SWITCH, which is the important term. When I upgraded to an Evergreen K27 hybrid turbo, I found a VDO-made shorter temp SENDER that fit, but it always had continuity to ground, which would eventually discharge the battery.

One needs to find a temperature SWITCH that fits!

[Tom]

Hi Tom,

I wish I had a source for a short temperature SWITCH, which is the important term. When I upgraded to an Evergreen K27 hybrid turbo, I found a VDO-made shorter temp SENDER that fit, but it always had continuity to ground, which would eventually discharge the battery.

One needs to find a temperature SWITCH that fits!

Thanks and understood. I may have to come up with something new, but we'll see.

[Tom]

Well I got lucky and found a good used one in my big pile of old parts

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[Tom]

Since the short Napa versions are no longer available, I thought I'd see if I could shorten the factory one. I have not yet tested to confirm it still works, though I can't imagine it wouldn't. Turns out the top portion of the switch screws out using a 6mm wrench. Removing that connector piece shortens the piece significantly. Still not as short of the old Napa versions as shown in the last picture, but probably short enough to work for some. After playing with various ideas, I ended up just soldering a wire directly into the port where the connector piece unscrews.

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temp-swith-compared.jpg (680.34 KiB) Viewed 924 times

[markl951]

Tom,
I did the same thing but had to make mine a bit shorter. The remaining insulator piece was a bit loose, so I added some JB weld to stabilize it. Works great. To test it, measure continuity between your new wire and the case. It should be open circuit. I carefully heated the sensor end using a small propane torch until my ohmmeter started beeping. Zero ohms is what you want to see. Soon as it cools back down, you should see the open circuit again.

PXL_20240623_234318994.jpg (103.61 KiB) Viewed 869 times

[Tom]

Tom,
I did the same thing but had to make mine a bit shorter. The remaining insulator piece was a bit loose, so I added some JB weld to stabilize it. Works great. To test it, measure continuity between your new wire and the case. It should be open circuit. I carefully heated the sensor end using a small propane torch until my ohmmeter started beeping. Zero ohms is what you want to see. Soon as it cools back down, you should see the open circuit again.

PXL_20240623_234318994.jpg

Nice. I tried a small heat gun on mine but couldn't get it hot enough to open. Boiling water doesn't seem hot enough either. I was going to boil it in peanut oil, since that once worked for the oil thermostat, but a torch is a good idea too, as long as I don't ruin it...

[Bergerac]

Has anyone mounted their switch straight into a spare coolant port on the turbo? I have zero clearance under my manifold

[Darwin]

Is there any drawback to deleting the turbo water pump entirely? Thats what I'm currently running and figured that since I never shut the car off immeidately after hard use, I'd most likely be fine. I just switched to running an NA tank.

[markl951]

I ran my car for a while w/o the switch but instead modified the timer circuit inside the relay to run twice as long, roughly a minute vs 30 seconds. It only runs once when you shut the engine off and won't automatically come back on w/o having the switch installed. I don't track my car anymore, so I wasn't too worried about it for street use.