Coolant Temperature Sensor - warning

I just wanted to share this tidbit of information.

Most recently, I've been doing maintenance on my 84 Vanagon with the ALH Engine.

Upon installing a new CTS from underneath the Van, I noticed it didn't seem to go all the way in. However, I could get the horse-shoe clip to slide over and what I first thought was in place. With light up close I saw that the clip was riding on top of the larger circumference of the CTS, not behind it.

No, I did not leave the old O-ring in the hole.

Longer story short, the diameter of the larger part of the new CTS is about 0.250 inches larger than the one I removed and will not fully seat. It was easily pulled out as the clip was not holding it.

Anyway, if I had been installing that new CTS from the top side of the engine on my Jetta, I would have thought it was in place!

This is a URO brand CTS .................

What brand Andy?

URO Brand ........ last sentence in my initial post .. (green 4-pin)

Caught me with my mind slipping again

Uro brands are nearly worthless. There are endless threads about their garbage on Mercedes and BMW forums.

h.ubk

h.ubk said:

Uro brands are nearly worthless. There are endless threads about their garbage on Mercedes and BMW forums.

h.ubk

Click to expand...

I don't hang out in Mercedes or BMW forums but thanks for the heads-up.

And, yep, there's a lot of garbage to chose from!

In my situation, I was preemptively replacing an old URO CTS (82k miles and 6 years old) with another URO from my parts stash (prolly 4 or 5 years old).

I'm not just saying they are bad quality. I'm saying they are a borderline scam that could destroy something critical on your car or get you killed.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/diesel-discussion/347300-dang-you-%FCro-other-tales-woe.html

h.ubk

You have been treated to the reason you should not put garbage parts on your VW. The good news for a manufacturer/vendor of a garbage part is that if that part destroys your car or kills you, their are ONLY liability is to send you another garbage part. Another aspect is that the ERO CTS will most likely not report temperature accurately.

Years ago, a friend bought a rebuilt carburetor that dropped a screw down the intake and severely damaged his engine. He went back to the store he bought the carb from and they cheerfully gave him a new screw and told him to go pack sand.

Well, this post has a two-part purpose.

1. If I had been working from the top, as with a Jetta/Golf/NB, I would have thought the horse-shoe clipped was in place. I assume everyone is like me, cold engine, pull the old CTS and slap in the new one quickly to minimize lose of coolant and a mess on the garage floor. Then, push in the clip and re-check old CTS to verify that the O-ring come out with it.

Since I was working from the bottom under my Vanagon, coolant already drained/vacuumed out, I could observe without a shower of coolant, etc.

2. I did disclose the brand for everyone's benefit. And, I was previously aware of URO brand parts. (As stated previously, this was a preemptive maintenance procedure.)

Now, in defense of the URO brand CTS, the old one was pretty much on par with my electrical gauge coolant temp sensor exiting the oil cooler as well as the McNally temp sensor which is located in the coolant flange across from the OE CTS location.

And, just now, the new URo CTS was telling me that the engine was beginning to heat up as well as the other gauges ........... and bang, it blew out the pressure cap as I watched. Obviously the T-stat never opened. (I've been doing a ton of maintenance on the Van since mid-July.) Now, obviously I need to install the Waller T-stat from my parts stash.

But, rest assured I'll not use a URO brand again ......... learned a lesson from Meyle parts too!

I installed a super Stant and it seemed to be running hot,then installed an oem one and the temp dropped about 8º.