Crown Victoria Mod

[Greg12]

I have a 1984 Crown Victoria, all it has is an engine overheat light. Is it hard to install an engine temperature gage. I always wonder how hot the engine is running.

Keep in mind I'm not the most car inclined person.

[rallynavvie]

Yes. If you had a pretty good understanding of engines then adding a coolant temp gauge would be pretty simple. You can get a decent AutoMeter gauge for $50 or so and either tap a coolant line for the sender or do what I did and splice it into one of the coolant hoses. Just make sure it's somewhere near the engine block so the coolant going over the sender is moving. Sometimes when you tap near the radiator or on the heater core there isn't always enough coolant running through it to give you a good idea what kind of temps the engine is throwing.

Keep in mind that a real coolant gauge is going to move a lot more than the dummy gauges in most cars. Most cars' temp gauge has a sweet spot where it sits and doesn't move much unless you're getting dangerously hot or cold. You'll notice the temps climb while idling until the radiator fans kick in to cool things off. You just need to make sure it doesn't go past the point where the fans are supposed to kick in to keep it from overheating.

BTW I don't have nor have I ever owned a Crown Vic. I can't tell you specifics.

[redwudz]

Just to add. Go by a local Autozone or Kragens and they should be able to show you a suitable gauge kit. For a car of that vintage, you may be able to pull the present idiot light sender on the engine and plug the new gauge sender into the same hole. Most of the kits come with good instructions and the store where you purchase it may be able to give you some advice on installation also.

[fmctm1sw]

Just to add. Go by a local Autozone or Kragens and they should be able to show you a suitable gauge kit. For a car of that vintage, you may be able to pull the present idiot light sender on the engine and plug the new gauge sender into the same hole.

That's what I did on my Chevy 350. Piece of cake. Yours, a RWD (302 more than likely), should be just as easy....