I noticed that my car has had a little difficulty starting. Battery had a dead cell so I replaced it. But it still started strange and idled kind of rough. I had about 5,000 miles on some Bosh Platinums (crap) and they were soaked in gas.

I ran a scan, and it came back saying that the ECT was malfunctioning and it gave the symptoms of what I had noticed a while before.

Does anyone have any experience or ideas on this?

$.02 welcome

 

alternator?

 

.. your ect is your temp sensor.. btw

 

So check the Alt? If its not that, about how much do one of those sensors cost?

 

about 30 - 35 bucks... its located on your lower intake, might just need cleaned...

 

Engine Coolant Temp sensor is a vital component to enable correct fuel air ratio control to the engine. It allows cold start enrichment & the ECU looks to the ECT to arrive at the correct fuel control depending on engine temp (amongst several other sensors). If this sensor is faulty it will affect how the engine starts & runs & also gas consumption. Very important sensor, if faulty get it replaced ASAP!

 

Thanks. I guess that would slightly explain my crappy gas mileage as of late.

Where on the lower intake? Well, if there are more than 1 sensor up there anyways...

 

You want the two wire sensor, the one wire sensor runs the temp gauge. I'll go take a look a bit later (car is my sons). The ECT looks very similar to the Air Charge Temp (ACT) sensor which is located on the air intake. So if you find a similar sensor screwed in the engine ,that'll be it.