North American Turbocoupe Organization



ECT
Rob H Offline
Senior Member
#1
If I run into more problems I'll post them but for now following instructions for diagnosis elsewhere on the site I ran into an acronym. Tried searching it here as well as online. What is ECT?
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Rob H Offline
Senior Member
#2
I'm just going to go out on a limb and assume it's not Electroconvulsive therapy. As useful as that might be while trying to sort out problems I don't think it's going to help the car
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85Original Offline
Member
#3
Engine Coolant Temperature - A sensor used to tell your computer the engine's temp.
R. Libby
85.5 Med. Regatta Blue TC
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Jeff K Offline
Administrator
#4
ECT is located in the intake manifold between injectors 2 and 3 sticking straight up. Has a 2 terminal electrical connector. It is basically a thermistor whose resistance drops exponentially as coolant temp increases. PCM uses the ECT to adjust air/fuel ratio and also to control the engine cooling fans on the 87/88 TCs. ECT is a rare, but not unheard of, failure point.
Jeff Korn

88 Turbo Coupe: Intake and exhaust mods, T3 turbo at 24 psi, forced air IC, water injection, BPV, Ranger cam, subframes, etc., etc.
86 Tbird 5.0 (original owner): intake, exhaust, valvetrain mods, 100 HP N2O, ignition, gears, suspension, etc., etc.
11 Crown Vic Interceptor
14 Toyota Camry (wifes car)
95 Taurus GL Vulcan winter beater
67 Honda 450 Super Sport - completely customized
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Rob H Offline
Senior Member
#5
Thanks guys. The heat must have been getting to me yesterday I just couldn't think of it. Kept playing with the different possibilities but searching for it wasn't coming up with anything.
I was following Jeff & Pete's article regarding troubleshooting the fans.
My car was always running hot in the past, quite often getting to the higher side of normal. For the longest time I just chalked it up to that being normal.
I recently did a drain of the coolant system where I found that I was at least two litres short of coolant. Must have been air in the system.
I replaced the radiator cap and fixed the line going to the overflow tank which apparently all this time had barely been hanging on.
Refilled with coolant and got exactly the amount of coolant in the system that I should have according to the manual.
Since then the car has been running great. Usually the temperature gauge shows it to be smack dab in the middle of the factory gauge.
Now all of a sudden in a very short run once it's up to temperature it climbs up past the top of normal and into the warning range. I've only gone out a couple times since it first happened and same thing every time. I don't hear fans coming on.
I went out last night and did the KOEO test. Didn't warm the car or anything. Just wanted to hear if the fan came on, and it did.
So I'm at the stage where I should"suspect the ECT"
Is there a way to test the ECT?
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Rob H Offline
Senior Member
#6
As soon as I hit reply I realized a new search parameter i hadn't tried and I got a hit with some advice from you Jeff from 14 years ago regarding testing the ECT

"Jeff K 
Administrator

#4 06-21-2006, 04:21 PM

what I do is pull the ECT, hook a DMM on ohms to it, and put it in a pan of water on the stove along with an accurate thermometer. I slowly heat the water and see if the resistance vs temp relationship is correct. I know the R vs T info is floating around on this site and over at TF, but if you cant find it, E mail me and I'll send you an Excel spreadsheet with the R vs T data.

As Pete said, if yours is bad, get the Ford part for this critical sensor."
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Rob H Offline
Senior Member
#7
Is this still the best way of going about it? And if so do you know where can my hands on this resistance vs temp chart?
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anasazi4st Offline
Senior Member
#8
(07-12-2020, 01:16 AM)Rob H Wrote: Is this still the best way of going about it? And if so do you know where can my hands on this resistance vs temp chart?

That’s how I test mine. Meat (or candy) thermometer, “Helping Hands” dual claw assembly (one of those things that has several swivel joints with two arms and spring clips on the ends). I use that to suspend the sensor in the pan of hot water, thermometer obviously to measure the water temp.

Hook up the Multimeter and turn on the stove.

I just looked and could not find my copy of the Test Chart. Sorry.
Another proud dues-paying member.

1987 Turbo Coupe w/T5OD, 8.8 axle, grey smoke; most options. Got it in 1991 with 41K miles: 3 turbos, 2 heater cores, 3 T5OD full rebuilds, 6 clutches, 1 head gasket, 2 Teves II ABS units, etc. later....
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Rob H Offline
Senior Member
#9
If anyone has the est chart or can point me to where I should look I would appreciate it. Did some Googleing and searching here.
Might not be using the right words in my search. Can't find it
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Rob H Offline
Senior Member
#10
I know sometimes its one step at a time. But suppose I get this chart and the ECT checks out...
Anything else I can check out as well and eliminate? Or should I be focused on the ect for now?
Only asking g now because sometimes advice comes in slow which is not a complaint at all.
You guys have lives, can't expect lightning quick responses. Just wondering if I can ask in advance now and maybe get multiple ways to go about checking this and that.
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