H20 Temp sending unit help!

[bart]

OK when I bought my Z a few months ago the Oil Pressure/H20 temp gauge was broken and the previous owner had a cheap set of guages installed on the center console. Well I bought a new (used) guage for the dash. Also the H20 Temp sending unit was gone and a bolt was stuck in the Thermostat housing in its place. I bought a new thermostat and housing and cover and I ordered the H20 sending unit along with the little bolt collar thing that holds it in. The original wire that connected the guage to the sending unit had been cut.

The problem I am having is this, the end of the sending unit is shapped oddly, not threads to bolt on a connector, looks like something should be plugged onto it. When I stuck the wire on there the guage in the dash maxed out. I think I remember reading somewhere that one way to test your guage was to ground the wire and it would max out. I think. Either way is there still something else I need to buy to connect the wire to the sending unit?

Thanx for any help in advance, and I hope I explained my situation well enough, if not please ask me questions.

[Bambikiller240]

There shoud be a little connector on the wire to connect to the sender unit, however not having that connector is not the problem. It sounds like you have "wiring issues" that are causing a short in that wire to the sender.

A parts store should be able to match up a connector that will fit the sender, but you'll need to find the short in your wiring before that will be of any help to you.

[Daniel]

The connector is called a barrel type.Radio shack has them.If you did have a wiring short ,it would show itself regardless if the wire was connected or not since all we want is ground.I would first check the new sending unit.Put a meter lead on the thermo housing and one on the sending unit connection.There should be some resistance but,not total continuity.That sending unit acts sorta like a light dimmer in your house.It varies the amount of ground to your gauge.Does the oil pres. part of the gauge work correctly?