Well crap :(

[xgeetx]

jc43089 said:

The one on the side of the radiator is for the aux electric fan in front of the radiator and A/C condenser.  Only about 30$ for one.

Okay, thanks. So the one for my temperature gauge is actually on the engine? If my temp. stayed at operating temp the whole time, should I be safe with regards to an overheat or is it just too hard to say?

[jc43089]

You are quite possibly fine, the temp sender for the gauge and ecu are both in the head itself, they are on the intake side below the intake ports around cylinder 2.  I forget what year your car is but obd1 has 2 separate sensors, obd2 has both in one sensor.

[xgeetx]

Separate sensors for what? 1 for gauge and 1 for ecu? Mine is 1998 so obd2 I think.

[Earl]

Yours is OBD2. He means you have one sensor that talks to both the gauge and the ecu. OBD1 has two sensors. One talks to only the gauge and the other only talks to the ECU. If your gauge stayed at 12 o'clock you did not overheat your car.

[jc43089]

Yes, the obd2 sensor has 4 pins on the connector, you are obd2 in '98.  The obd1 has 2 different sensors right next to each other, one has 1 pin and the other has 2.  I have an Autometer water temp gauge so I replaced the gauge sender in the head with that one, I leave the stock sender plugged in hanging in the area behind the oil filter housing to roughly measure underhood temps.

[xgeetx]

Thanks guys. Earl, I'm going to post some more pics tonight to show the damage to that fender mount area. Also the piece of metal that wraps over where the strut bolts in and comes down to the front of the wheel well is pretty messed up in the corner. I don't think it affected the tire or suspension, but that may also be something that can't easily be repaired. When I post them, if you could give me a best guess that'd be great