Go to the dealer. I went through 3 Napa/Stant 195 stats and it took forever to warm up and never got to operating temp. Afraid to go out of state for fear they won't let you back in?

 

So an update to humor you all. I got the valve cover off Sunday night and cleaned it up and checked everything out. Took my 3\8 drive to the sensor and got a little careless since it was going so...perfect. I slipped as I was taking the socket off and popped the sensor off flush in the head. So I went from having a slightly fluctuating temp gauge I figured would be an easy fix, to a non working temp gauge.

To look at the positive side my valve cover was seeping before and I found a large amount of oil was running down the back of my block so I fixed my newly discovered oil drip at least! Oh and a shiny valve cover!

I have a few solutions to fix my new f up so all is good...So who needs help on their XJ!?

 

Well ***** , sorry to hear that. Well, you gave it an honest shot, those things happen. Maybe someone will chime in, or shoot it up to "ask a question" thread, I wonder what other options you might have. T-stat housings come in both iron and aluminum. (at least). I wonder if (one) could drill and tap a housing for another sensor. I could do it here in 5 minutes, you might take a housing to a shop, they might do it for a song.

Went and took a look. The aluminum is no thicker than the iron, so I'd go with iron. There, on the white triangle, I don't see now why one couldn't be screwed in there.

And yea Pete, we know the roads that go around the road-block, inspection deal.