Talk Morgan Forums Thread Like Summary - Engine Temperature Sensor (ETS)

I recently had what turned out to be an ETS failure whilst on the Northern Spain tour.

The symptoms were check engine light, the car running slightly rough below 3,000 but sweet as a nut above, very hard to start when hot, requiring part throttle and at least 4-5 goes at starting. When it did catch it ran very rough with copious quantities of black smoke from both exhausts which then cleaned up after about 10-20 seconds. It was obviously running very rich and we tried changing the Idle Air Valve. This was a temporary cure but within 10 miles or so the engine light was back on. Next changed the Inlet Manifold temperature sensor and again the "fix" only lasted a few miles. Lastly tried the ETS which, although an early suspect, was initially ruled out as it's pretty much solid state and we'd not heard of them failing. This (so far) seems to have cured the problem.

For the Alternative parts list it's a Cylinder Head Temperature Sensor, OEM reference 32446-99 and common fitment for Harleys. Available from Hogparts, part number 990954

https://www.hogparts.co.uk/motorcyc...-1999-2016-flt-touring-inj-models-p75245

Thanks Luddite, the easiest way to access the sensors is with the S&S Protune software (available free).

Richard, no I didn't have Protune for most of the tour but did stop by at M3WServices France. Due to limited time Steve was only able to check the sensors whilst the car was stationary and still hot. There was a stored P0118 fault code (high engine temp) but nothing live. Once cleared the fault code didn't return whist Protune was connected. The ETS looked to be working OK with the temp rising from about 170f to 200f at which point the fan came on. For a number of reasons we then suspected the intake temperature sensor and changed that which seem to solve the problem. However after leaving it became clear it hadn't so the other likely faulty sensor was the ETS.

When I got home I ran it with Protune from a cold engine and the problem showed fairly quickly between about 71f (ambient) and about 140f when it started fluctuating then going down rapidly until at one point showed -4f ! On Protune the measured temp then flashed red and defaulted to a fixed 100f. So it appeared the original sensor was faulty somewhere around 140f and when we tested it at M3WServices it was probably working again.