2001 buick regal 3800 v6 non s/c

checked the mil light and its giving me p0128. i checked the coolant level its good. the fans were stuck in the on position. i erased the mil light and warmed the car up it got up to 210 degrees and the fans werent turning on. the ECT is used to turn the engine fans on and is a probably cause of a p0128 code.

has anyway changed one of these? i havent looked to find it yet but im hoping its not in too bad of a spot to change it. they are 17 dollars from autozone so its not too bad. might also pick up a thermostat while im there just for the hell of it.

http://www.obd-codes.com/p0128
http://www.obd-codes.com/faq/ect-sensor.php


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This post was edited by JDH on Feb 9 2013 11:10am

Yeah most likely the sensor just screws into the thermostat housing.

Should be extremely easy.

And yeah replacing the thermostat is always a good idea, with a fresh gasket, while you're there.

Only thing to obviously look for is some slight spillage when you pull the old sensor out. But if you're quick with the new sensor you may not make too much of a mess.

If your fans don't turn off after replacing the sensor, your fan relays may be malfunctioning. (but I doubt that)

This post was edited by OldAndyAndTheSea on Feb 9 2013 01:19pm

Lol actually I mainly only know about the fox body mustang 5.0 lol

i changed the thermostat out and the fans are kicking on ok now. they may have kicked on before im not sure because they arent as strong as they were when the MIL light was on. seeing as how it didnt know what the coolant temp was im guessing it was running the fans wide open. its a 195 thermostat so im in the right operating range anyway.

and the sensor is somewhere under the alternator screwed into the block or head. but its fwd so there is absolutely no room in there to check for it. if it was bad im pretty certain i would have to loosen the engine mounts and wiggle it around some or something to get in there. the coolant resevoir is mounted to the inner fender probably literally 2 inches from the pulleys and belt on the front of the motor. so im just gonna let it ride and see how it acts before i worry about that. i have the sensor already though. it was 15 dollars at napa

yeah so just did a quick google search for it and found it. dammit it was right there by the thermostat lol. the one the haynes manual was showing was a slightly older 3800 i think. number 8 on pic. damn its numbered on the site but right under the thermostat anyway

http://www.greatautohelp.com/sensor-location/3800.html



This post was edited by JDH on Feb 9 2013 07:17pm