Cherokee water temp sender

Hi, My '97 4.0l I6 cherokee has started to display an erratic temp gauge - it sits at 0 then intermittently rises to display the correct temp. I don't have a manual for the vehicle - where is the temp sender located and is this (or it's wiring) likely to be the fault? All other gauges work fine and there's no check engine light on. Thanks,

Danny did pass the time by typing:
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Front of the engine.
http://revbeergoggles.com/Fixes/diagnostics.html#sensor-coolant-temperature

DougW wrote:
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Thanks Doug and Mike. Found it (right in front of my eyes!) - all looks fine, will WD40 it.

Keep an eye on it, it may actually be the thermostat stuck open and it just takes along time to warm up and may never reach operating temperature. God Bless America, Bill O|||||||O mailto: snipped-for-privacy@aol.com http://www.billhughes.com /
Danny wrote:
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Danny wrote:
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I am curious as to where it was on your 97. I thought they kept the gauge one the same at the back of the head and added one up front for the computer.
Mike

Mike Romain wrote:
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OK, I only found a sender at the front of the engine, above the water pump, with two wires (yeelow strip and brown stripe). Cleaning this sender connection fixed the gauge, but that could be co-incidence...

Thanks. I was under the impression the newer one still had the back sensor. It had a purple wire going to it. That was for a direct read gauge. Yours likely is computer generated for the gauge then.
Mike
Danny wrote:
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Mike Romain wrote:
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Trouble is that the decsription of rear engine drivers side, assuming a LHD vehicle equates to N/S on mine, which is a pig to see into as it's the side the inlet manifold and injectors are on.
I noticed that when the gauge wasn't working properly it was doing something - it rose to the zero on the gauge, rather than getting no voltage at all.

It should be a purple wire on a sensor right at the back top driver's side corner of the engine head. That sensor runs the gauge on the 4.0.
Mike 86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view! Jan/06 http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id !15147590 (More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page)
Danny wrote:
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No Danny you are right. I had the same problem on my 97XJ, and cleaning the contacts did the trick.
On Fri, 31 Mar 2006 12:35:53 +0100, Danny
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I had the same problem - it was a bad wire coming out of the temp sending unit. I just moved the wire 180degrees and it's been fine since.
---------------------------------------- Danny wrote:
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I had the same problem - it was a bad wire coming out of the temp sending unit. I just moved the wire 180degrees and it's been fine since.
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