Thanks. That means I havn't gone over the edge, just yet. I've been playing with some thoughts about it. Like although the car has not been started and is *cold*, the air temp has been in the 90's all day so the switch is now made, but that there might be another player here, like the ECU is looking at that water temp switch being made/unmade but also at the water temp from the water thermo sensor and a certain configuration of the two will give you no cold start if the plug is pulled off the water temp switch. Something like that. Its hard to prove because I only get one shot at it a day on the whole.

Its not a real important thing, but has been bugging me on and off for sometime now. I usually just lose interest in it until some post is made concerning the water temp sw.

i did the exact same thing and decided not to take the chance. $7.50 my hard labor removing it. too bad the engine caught on fire anyway.

What I don't understand is why one would need that water temp switch (on rad) when you already have the water thermo sensor.

Also, that rad switch is dry. It's not in contact with the coolant. So, what happens on a very cold day, like 0 degree C (32 F), how long does it take for the rad switch to get to ~17 degrees C ?

Hugues -

Jesus! And all I wanted was the name of the switch! :hah:

So last night I WD-40'ed the throttle linkage. The armature coming from the thermowax (if what I was hitting WAS the thermowax thingy) was a little stiff. That surprised me.

When I started her first thing this morning, I was so loopy from being tired (fuck all for sleep for the last two weeks) that I forgot to see how the idle would be - I held her to 2k until she seemed stable. :doh: For what it's worth, she did seem stable far sooner than b4.

I replaced the ECU temp sensor right after work. She's 100% again. 3k start-up and normal idle.

Enjoy your argument! :D