912 ULS coolant temp reading error

Hi, all --

We have just finished the 5-year rubber change on our Skyreach Bushcat.  In the course of wrestling with things, we yanked the coolant temp wires out of the little spade connector, so I stripped them back and made a new one and slipped it over the sensor button.  Simple, right?

I've just done our first test run, and as soon as the instruments came up we were maxed at 357 degrees.  Since that was obviously impossible, I continued the test while watching the very happy oil, CHT, EGT temps.  The coolant temp didn't move through the entire 5 minutes :-/

I then tried again after shutdown and also with the clip off of the button entirely; we get 357 every time.

I checked the new connection and verified that I hadn't screwed up there, but that leaves me wondering.  Is max temp an open circuit or a short?  Presuming for the moment that the temp sensor didn't coincidentally blow (although i've seen less-believable episodes), which path do I choose for debugging?

Let us know if you need any other information :-)


TIA & HAND