Nope they are not the same thing. The thermostat simply lets water flow and is thermally controlled. The cts is electronic. It should be located by the distributor. It will have a black cylindrical vertical plug on it.

You should be able to find exactly what it looks like in the manual.

 

isn't that the temperature sender unit? That is if you mean the one by the bleed bolt.

 

I once asked myself the same thing. But the coolant temp sensor and thermostat are totally different electronic components. From what I know, the coolant temp sensor is solely responsible for sending the signal to the temperature sending unit that tells the temperature gauge on the instrument panel to to move. I found this out the hard way after destroying the temp sensor and its connector itself. Not sure what exactly the thermostat's role is in all of this. Check around. The answers will come.

My questions to you:
1) Why did you feel the need to change your thermostat?
2) What causes you to believe that your fan switch actually needs to be replaced? (Which reminds me, I have a fan switch that needs to go back to O'Reilly.)

 

I changed the thermostat because I was not getting any heat in the car and car would overheat. After changing the thermostat, it worked well for over a week. Today though the temp crept up more than usual, so I feel I should just change all the cooling related components. The thermostat I changed out looked like it was the original that came with the car.

For what these things cost, I would rather change them all out. I prefer to do it myself though; thats why I am asking for the location of the coolant temp sensor.

On the other hand I suspect I might have a bad rad cap and I might be getting air in the system. I plan to bleed it again tomorrow.

thanks.

 

could possibly be the heater core as well...my achieva did the same thing and after that it has worked perfect sicne...except for my thermostat is shot because the coolant gets backed up and evaporates...blahh

 

The Thermostat (in-stream valve, opens at around 170-degs) and Coolant Temp Sensor (sends coolant temp data to the ECU) are different, and the Coolant Temp Sending Unit is something else (by the bleed valve, sends signal to Temp Gauge on the dash, exclusively).

The Coolant Temp Sensor is located along the bottom back edge of the radiator, next to the drain valve. There's a simple test in the manual for this, but if your Rad Fan on the drivers side (not the Condensor Fan, passenger side) fails to come on when the Temp Gauge hits normal, it's this which is probably not getting info out to the ECU. BUT, it could be several other things, too. There's a Rad Fan Relay, Condensor Fan Relay, Rad Fan Control Unit and Rad Fan Timer Unit, along with Resistors at each Fan which could also be bad.

 

so your saying that if the main fan does not turn on when temp guage goes normal.. it could be due to the condensor fan relay or being bad as a possibility??

Also what is the test for the temp sensor under the rad. I hope mine is bad, that would be an easy and inexpensive fix.

 

If you arent getting heat you probably have air in the system which is causing you gauge to read hot. You need to try bleeding your system and see if that works, if you continue to get air in the system you have a leak or bhg. There are three sensors, the one on the bottom of the rad, one under the passenger side fuel rail and the temp sending unit on the drivers side. If the fans aren't working you can try the fcu located by the ecu or the relay. But like I said, no heat and overheating = bleed the system.

 

my bad, posting from phone, just saw this is a g1 so my temp sensor info is prob invalid lol. but still, bleed the system.

 

Not only that, but this thread was revived from last September!

 

don't blame me, i didn't bump it haha

 

Blame the original Bumper!!!
lol

 

Hell yes I will Zak LOL