Hi All! New to the forum, and I've almost finished changing the head gasket on my 740 GLE Estate, but when putting it back together I've noticed a loose wire that I don't remember unplugging. A little research has led me to believe it is the temp sender, but I cannot for the life of me find where it needs to plug in... The wire is pretty short, so in theory the connector can't b e far away, but I can't see it. Any help in pointing me in the right direction would be much appreciated!

Pic 1 shows where the wire plugs into the sensor, and pic 2 shows the loose connector. Loose end is a single (hence my assumption on temp sender) male type spade connector in a plastic housing.

Cheers in advance for any help as I cant wait to get her back on the road and collecting more miles!

 

Well, if you have a male spade on what could be the instrument panel temp sensor (is that sensor under the #2 intake?) and a female spade connector with no other place to go..... You won't damage the sensor or the wire by connecting it to that sensor.

 

I'm confused by your post. Like KRH said, if you found an empty male post near the wire and the connector is female, most likely it plugs in there.

Otherwise the only other item I could think it connects to is the cold start injector - if your car has one. Newer models had the cold start injector removed. Older ones don't. The cold start injector is located on the underside of the intake manifold and has a single male spade lug connector.

 

there's like 3 sensors under the intake ports. one is a 2-pin coolant temp sensor used by the ICU and ECU, another is a flat antiknock sensor, and the final one is a 1 pin coolant temp sensor used by the temp gauge on the dashboard.

I believe that instrument panel coolant temp sensor uses a white/yellow wire.