What are the sensors between the spark plugs?

[byrd48]

Hi All,
I'm trying to breathe life back into my 1980 spider which has been sitting idle for 20 years. I plan to take out the spark plugs and squirt some oil into the cylinders in preparation for turning it over.
When I pulled off the air intake to get to the spark plugs, I see two sensors inline between the plugs. Are those oxygen sensors? The rodents have chewed through all the spark plug wires as well as the wire to the front sensor. The wire to the rear sensor is still intact. From what it looks like, the sensor wires come out of the firewall in one jacket which contains a black wire and a green wire. The green wire, which is still intact goes to the rear sensor and it looks like the black wire would have continued on to the front sensor.
Thanks in advance,
Jon

[ORFORD2004]

Oxygen sensor is in the exhaust pipe actually in the headers. The 2 sensor you talk about are for the temperature gauge and light in the car. It's a variable resistor. If the car don't start it's not the cause.

[AZ79]

I believe the front sensor is for the temp warning light and the rear one is for the temp gauge itself.

[4uall]

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hope this helps

[vandor]

I believe the front sensor is for the temp warning light and the rear one is for the temp gauge itself.

Actually there is no light. The front sensor pegs the gauge around 220-230 degrees, to alert the driver of an impending catastrophe It's also a backup in case the gauge sender does not work.

Jon, is the car carbureted, or fuel injected? If it is FI, you can bet that the injectors are totally gummed up. I've had that happen even with cars that sat 2-3 years.

[byrd48]

Hi,
It's fuel injected. Is there a maintenance procedure for the fuel injectors to degum them or would they need to be replaced?
Also I suspect I should siphon out any gas in the tank as well.
Back to those temp sensors, the wire that connects to them goes into a hole by the firewall. I'm not sure how to get to the other end as I'll need to replace that as well. Would I need to take out the dash?
I'm not sure what the my odds are on getting this baby back on the road. I know it stopped running when I quit driving it, but I don't recall what the symptoms were. I know it burned oil as well, it only had about 68k miles on it.

When I was cleaning out the area around the spark plugs, there was a fair amount of what looks like corrosion around the plugs themselves, like what you would see on battery terminals. I'm going to have to clean that out really well before removing the plugs to avoid any debris dropping into the cylinders.

Thanks again, I'm happy to hear any advice from folks who have undertaken these restoration jobs.

Jon

[124JOE]

bump
one is for the gauge the other is for the fan
the factory guys put them in and it didnt matter witch one went in the front or rear
so nobody can say which is witch untill pluged and unpluged

a shop vac and a screwdriver helps remove stuff on top of the head

im not up on the FI so i hope this helps

[GeorgeT]

bump
one is for the gauge the other is for the fan
the factory guys put them in and it didnt matter witch one went in the front or rear

As stated earlier, one is for the temp gauge and one is for the over-heating warning that pegs the gauge. The fan switch sensor is located in the bottom of the radiator.

[124JOE]

oh ya