The sender is probably a Mercedes-only part. You should be able to get one from Phil; click the "Buy Parts" link at the top of this page. Supporting FastLane is a good thing because they support this forum.

The sender should measure a few hundred ohms or so, I would guess, maybe a thousand. You can check it with an ohmmeter. "Zero" and "infinity" are both bad numbers. The ohmmeter can also test the water temp meter itself; remove the wire from the sender and, with one ohmmeter probe grounded to the block, lightly touch the other probe to the connector on the wire. Your assistant in the passenger compartment should see the meter needle jump. The "ignition" switch needs to be ON for this. If the needle tries to jump "down," you just have the probes reversed. It's almost always a bad sender, IMHO.

The sender next to the thermostat is for the aux fan, I think.

Jeremy

__________________

"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970