The $180 coolant sensor that fixed what a $2,000 scan couldn't

Truck kept throwing a random derate code for three weeks. Shop ran two full diagnostics, replaced the wiring harness, still no fix. I finally bought a cheap OEM temp sensor from a parts house in Tulsa for $180 and swapped it myself. Turns out the sensor was reading 10 degrees off only under load, which the scan tool never caught because it looked fine at idle. Anyone else had a part that cheap kill a phantom electrical gremlin after expensive diagnostic bills?

1 comments

1 Comment

jessicac2816d ago

That 10 degree variance under load is exactly what a proper load test with a cheap multimeter would've caught in about 20 mins, so I'd argue the scan tools weren't the real waste here. You paid for diagnostics that didn't include basic circuit testing under real driving conditions, not for the parts.