what is this? I accidently broke the wires, no idea which one is positive/negative. what does it to?
 

I bet you are having a tough time telling what the engine temperature is... 

That is the temp sender for the dash.

you can find one at the junkyard, at Hawks' Strictly Suzuki (888 SAMURAI), an auto parts store  or your friendly neighborhood suzuki dealer.

your friendly neighborhood Suzuki dealer

I wish I had a friendly Suzuki dealer. the only one around is 30 miles away and then haven't touched a trackick for ten years.

thanks alot!

I've got one dealer that is 120km's away and won't even talk samurai....the next one is over 600km's away...they are nice and will ship.

The wires are for the temp guage.

Unless I'm mistaken, the temp gauge sender is a variable resister type sensor, so there isn't really a +/-. You may be able to simply hook/splice/solder the wires back up and see if your guage works.

Guys, this is the temperature sender for the computer NOT the dash analog temperature gauge. That sending unit is just to the right of this one he has outlined and has a 1/4 spade connector on it.

-Eric

Guys, this is the temperature sender for the computer NOT the dash analog temperature gauge. That sending unit is just to the right of this one he has outlined and has a 1/4 spade connector on it.

-Eric

OWWW!

I am SOOOO WRONG!

Thanks for the catch on that, Eric.

itzallgood...



-Eric

I thought the 86 Sammi's were simple carbs and didn't have ECUs. I'm certainly no expert, having never owned one (yet) but even if it is for the ECU, it should be a variable resistor type sensor, basically changing resistance as the temp changes, so the gauge or computer can detect the temp. As such, in theory at least, there should not be a + or -. Not always the case, as I worked on a Audi once that for some reason had resistance sensors that were +/-, but generally they aren't.
Eric is definitely 1000x more knowledgeable on this subject than I, but I would think that regardless, you can hook it up one way, and if for some reason it doesn't work right, hook it up the other way, there are only two choices 

2 wire sensors use a reference voltage, usually 5v+ and the return wire
sends the modified voltage back to the computer as input.

Single wire sensors just send an Ohm value to the computer as input,
the end result is the same, just the method is different.

As a side note, those "performance chips" for the Suzuki engines,
is a resistor that lies to the computer by changing the Ohm value
that the computer is reading.

I suppose sensors, over time, could loose accuracy and cause a
vehicle to run poorly, the only way to know would be to first heat
to 200* and then cool to 30* and read the Ohm values from each
temp extreme, then compare to the values a new sensor is supposed
to have.

Wild