Temperature Sender

[njsteve]

OK, I kicked the wife out of the kitchen and did a little experimentation on the stove with a pot of water, a candy thermometer and a digital ohmmeter. Here are the results:

80 degrees: Wells at 650 ohms, LL at 573 ohms
90 degrees: Wells at 526 ohms, LL at 445 ohms
100 degrees: Wells at 429 ohms, LL at 365 ohms
110 degrees: Wells at 328 ohms, LL at 266 ohms
120 degrees: Wells at 283 ohms, LL at 227 ohms
130 degrees: Wells at 250 ohms, LL at 200 ohms
140 degrees: Wells at 216 ohms, LL at 170 ohms
150 degrees: Wells at 198 ohms, LL at 155 ohms
160 degrees: Wells at 173 ohms, LL at 133 ohms
170 degrees: Wells at 157 ohms, LL at 119 ohms
180 degrees: Wells at 135 ohms, LL at 101 ohms
190 degrees: Wells at 120 ohms, LL at 89 ohms
200 degrees: Wells at 109 ohms, LL at 79 ohms
212 degrees: Wells at 104 ohms, LL at 75 ohms

And as a result of my weekend TempSender-Palooza, I am going with the Wells sender as the one that makes my temp gauge far more accurate when it comes to reading what the coolant temperature actually is, as corroborated by an actual thermometer as well as a mechanical temp gauge. (That is, until the original GM unit arrives)

I will update with the original GM sender when I get that. The original ones have the part number stamped above the threads. The later GM ones have no part numbers whatsoever and seem to be a generic replacement.

[njsteve]

Just took the car out for a test drive. I hooked up the mechanical gauge in the sender location. It's about 97 degrees outside at the moment and the car ran around 190 degrees most of the trip with the A/C on full blast.

Once you sit and idle for an extended period or shut the car down, the temp really spikes (230) but I think that is due more to the sender location on Pontiacs that is right between the two exhaust port tunnels on the HO cylinder heads. So actually, the heat soak from the exhaust manifolds may play a major part in some of the high readings when there is no airflow. The heat soak may be heating the outside of the temp sender more than the coolant is heating the sender bulb inside the cyl head.

[njsteve]

OK, just got an original, vintage GM 1513321 temp sender, here is the updated chart:

80 degrees: Wells at 650 ohms, LL at 573 ohms, GM at 549
90 degrees: Wells at 526 ohms, LL at 445 ohms, GM at 524
100 degrees: Wells at 429 ohms, LL at 365 ohms, GM at 409
110 degrees: Wells at 328 ohms, LL at 266 ohms, GM at 365
120 degrees: Wells at 283 ohms, LL at 227 ohms, GM at 323
130 degrees: Wells at 250 ohms, LL at 200 ohms, GM at 272
140 degrees: Wells at 216 ohms, LL at 170 ohms, GM at 227
150 degrees: Wells at 198 ohms, LL at 155 ohms, GM at 195
160 degrees: Wells at 173 ohms, LL at 133 ohms, GM at 175
170 degrees: Wells at 157 ohms, LL at 119 ohms, GM at 157
180 degrees: Wells at 135 ohms, LL at 101 ohms, GM at 140
190 degrees: Wells at 120 ohms, LL at 89 ohms, GM at 125
200 degrees: Wells at 109 ohms, LL at 79 ohms, GM at 109
212 degrees: Wells at 104 ohms, LL at 75 ohms, GM at 102

Looks like the Wells sender is pretty darn close to the original GM sender's specs. I'd say it's a dead-on match given my pot of hot water on the stove, scientific method.