Do you know if it is bad? You could check for continuity for each wire from end to the other end. Or you could do voltage drop testing. That is a skill that you will need to acquire anyway.

 

I'm getting a little over 5 v at harness side. I noticed that I have a weird fluctuating idle. I ran the engine until it got to operating temp then I guess the ecu realized it was hotter than the values what the cts was providing and changed the fuel ratio. While in the process of cooling down, I tried disconnecting the maf sensor and starting it w/ cts connected. Started fine and ran for few secs then died. let it cool down for a little and disconnected cts and maf sensor and it started and idle more steady and smoother than before until I turned the air on then died. I also got a maf sensor trouble code.

The nightmare continues even this morning when I got ready to adjust my idle and the rpms went down when I put it in diagnostic mode then died when I adjusted screw so rpms would go a little over 1k. (Did this so it would't die, but did, and I still ended up adjusting the idle without in diagnostic mode.) I'm thinking that I could maybe set base idle to about 1.1K and get away with timing it even though manual says max idle should be 800. Oh yeah, I almost forgot! I got distracted by one of my classmates and shocked myself by jumping gnd and another terminal.

 

Update: tried starting it this morning after engine cooled with coolant temperature sensor connected and maf sensor disconnected. It didn't work. Didn't try to unplug both then plug coolant temp sensor back in and crank, but I'm pretty sure that's not going to work. Maybe I can get the idle correct this afternoon by leaving the maf sensor disconnected when I adjust it and set the timing. Praying everything goes well and my maf sensor is only dirty even though my uncle decide to spray carbuerator cleaner on it few months ago because he thought that would make it run.

 

Since you have a new ECT let's give it the benefit of doubt. That means the Problem is that the PCM doesn't get the proper info, or it is unable to process it.

Voltage drop testing will reveal a problem in the wiring harness. It is more than a simple voltage reading.

Look at this:

 

thanks. finally after much troubleshooting, i decided to adjust the idle and get a timing light on it.there is only one problem though. i put the car in diagnostic mode and neutral like said in repair manual. once i start to turn the screw counterclockwise to increase the idle it dies after i give it a few turns. gonna just keep at it. might need to adjust the timing the way it is and unplug maf sensor so idle smooths while doing so.

 

Can anyone tell me where it's located at coolant temperature sensor