towed it up to a shop and they said the aftermarket sensors don't work and I need a new one (and wiring) to the tune of $160.

Dealer wants $55.90 for the sensor and waiting on a price for the wiring. Can I get the wiring in a junkyard that will work?

They said the bad sensor tricked the engine into thinking in was 40 below and it flooded the engine trying to get it enough gas.

Ideas?

 

I know I had to lift the manifold slightly (I didnt have the correct tools to get in there with out lifting it). Are you sure you did not get a lot of antifreeze down inside the engine when you pulled off the outlet housing. I do know I had that problem since I had my manifold lifted. I had removed the outlet housing (forgetting to drain some of the antifreeze out first) and antifreeze had went everywhere. Thankfully I was parked on a slope so almost everything just ran the correct way and hit the pads I had under the car. Only got a few drops inside the engine. If the car would have been level I would have gotten a lot more in. There might be a chance you go to much antifreeze down in engine and now it wont fire. I only had a few drops down inside mine and when I went to run it a few times after wards it ran very rough until I blew everything out the tailpipe.

 

Which sensor(s)? There are lots of them under the hood. As for junkyard wiring, the answer to your question is maybe. If the wiring on the junked vehicle is in good shape and you can remove it without damaging it, then it might work. No way anybody here can tell you for sure it will or will not.

 

Thank you! This forum and thread really saved me time and money resolving this problem. Here's my story:

Wife was complaining that the heater wasn't working so I drove it when it was in the teens here in Colorado and sure enough it took forever to start blowing warm air. I immediately think it's the thermostat and Googled to this forum. Wasn't very happy to see the complicated and involved procedure to get to the thermostat so I decided to take it to have it repaired (used a local Brakes Plus business that I had honest dealings with before). I had already bot a thermostat locally for around $17 so imagine my shock when the Brakes Plus tech showed me signs of leakage around the water outlet housing. He said it wasn't an easy repair as he had to remove the intake manifold to get to one of those four specially placed bolts. Total repair, including parts (water outlet - $165, thermostat - $27, radiator flush and fill, labor, blah, blah, blah) would be $465! Remembering some of the other posts on this thread I thanked them very much, but said I'd have to think about it. He topped off my fluid and charged me $25 for the analysis, which I was fine with. Low and behold driving home the heater was kicking *** right away. Low radiator fluid was the heaters only problem. Duh! I re-read the forum posts when I got home and still realized that water outlet needed to be replaced. Found a new one on-line (Amazon) for $42 with free shipping, ordered it on Monday with an expected delivery on Saturday. Went to Home Depot, Sears and Auto Zone looking for the special 8mm flex head wrench or a swivel socket with no luck anywhere. Then went to Lowe's where one poster got one for $8. There it was, but now $20 with tax. I bot it, knowing it was probably a one time use. Thought about being gentle with it and returning it after using but you know, started thinking about that Karma thing so I'll keep it. Saturday noon came and still no part but decided to take the old one out. Thanks again to these posts, I knew how to proceed. I disconnected the electrical connector and then removed the terminal going into the intake manifold with a phillips screw underneath it (to gain more access to the special bolt). Didn't bother draining any fluid from the radiator. After placing a large tray under the car to catch any dripping fluid, I took the smallest hose off the outlet which leaked a little fluid. Then I took the next hose off leaking a small amount of additional fluid. The bigger hose going to the radiator was giving me some grief so I left that attached and proceed taking off the outlet. Took a lot of short turns with the special 8mm wrench but the special bolt was finally unthreaded - still couldn't remove it though as my fingers couldn't fit in the space to grab it. I just left it and removed the other three bolts (the other one in the back required a 1/4" drive extension to clear the side of the intake housing but came out with a normal 8mm socket). I then removed the water outlet with the one special bolt still in. More fluid dripped into my tray underneath the car, but not much. With the outlet now free the big hose was then easily removed. Just as I did this guess who drove up? Yup, the United States Postal Service, with my water outlet. Back to the Karma thing right? Ha, ha. Put the new one in in the reverse order. Don't plan on messing with the bleeder as recommended here. Topped off the with new fluid by adding to the reservoir and started it up. No leaks! Heater Works Great! Spent a total of $62 (including the cost of the tool) and about 40 minutes work. Happy Wife - Happy Life! And yes - kept the fluid in the tray (not much - maybe a quart?) for recycling later. And plan on keeping a closer watch on fluid levels in the future.

 

My husband and I installed a new water outlet housing and after it was done and everything put back together I started the car and there is a gurgling noise coming from the car. When the car is cold and at idle you hear a gurgling sound but when the car warms up the noise is gone. This has been going on for about 6 months. Any ideas?

 

Nice! Sounds just about what did and it's been working so long now I forgot about it!! lol
I did open the valve at first...gave it a gentle tug and it opened with no sweat but I will never touch it again. Should have left it alone! I also bought the housing with the new sensor. I figured the old one was 10 years old and some posts say that if that sensor goes it can cause a lot of grief plus changing it down the road may lead to wrecking the new housing and I don't want to replace that again!

 

Guessing you still have air in your system. I had the same issue with my Pontiac Sun fire and just kept topping off the coolant reservoir when cold and the gurgling finally went away.

 

I had repaired my water outlet by coating the inside with JB weld a few years ago, and it finally started leaking again, so I broke down and bought a new one. I checked at my local "PartSource" store (division of Canadian Tire) and they quoted about $73. I said I'm sure I've heard some place sells it for about $40 and I'd look around. The guy told me they'll beat a local competitor by 10% less than the competors price. I called Car Quest and they quoted about $71. Went back to PartSource and got it for $65. They had to order it, but I got it next day. It's really not hard to replace. You just need to remove the intake manifold screws and a couple electrical connectors on it, and just lift it enough to get at the back bolt. Just be sure you don't drop the bolt down the camber. Just to note, the JB weld had deteriorated a bit, and the surface became powdery so maybe it's not such a good idea to fix it that way. It's been about 4 years since I did it, so it does work short term.

 

Can someone provide clear instructions on lifting the intake? What all do I need to do? I don't seem to have enough space with the 8mm flex wrench. Are there 7 or 8 bolts to loosen on the manifold? Please help your brother in arms.

 

Here is what I did for my '04, 2.7 LXi:
1.Take off the sensor from the intake
2. Loose all the bolts on the intake
3. Set in place the ratchet on the last bolt
4. Lift the intake for about 1/2 inch in order to get enough room to loosen the problematic bolt; can hold it with one hand
5. I used 1/4" ratchet with 90 degree swivel & extension with the other hand and got the last bolt out
6. Remove the old part
7. Clean with rubbing alcohol, let dry, set new red silicone
8. Put the new part and get the bolts in place. Tight them all, holding the intake at 1/2 inch up for the last one
9. Put back the intake bolts, tight them in cross-match order
10. Install-back the intake sensor

For more details see page 9, where there are more instructions.
Hope this helps.