Truck won't start, temp gauge acting nuts.

Hi Folks.

I posted last night about some problems I am having with my temp gauge, and today the problems got even worse! I hope some of y'all can help me out!

HERE IS THE MAIN PROBLEM THAT IS KILLING ME. Please watch this youtube video to understand what I am dealing with. Its too complicated to explain!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnTtG-GuMOo&feature=youtu.be

Since the time I made the video, the problem has gotten even worse. NOW, even if I pull up on the wires and hear the "click" and watch the gauge drop, when I go back and try to start the engine, it wont turn over, and when I pull the keys out, the gauge shoots back up again. I am pretty sure this is my fault for pushing the wires around to much when I was trying to isolate the problem I jerry rigged a temporary solution by re-positioning the set of wires so that it stays in the "lifted" position. BUT THAT AINT NO FIX!

ONE THING I SHOULD ADD is that if the engine is idling in neutral and I move those wires, the truck just stalls outright. Thankfully this hasn't happened while driving!

NOW, as I said yesterday, my OTHER problem is that I've noticed some times when I am driving at normal operating temperature, the temp gauge will quickly spike up to the red line and drop down to normal again. It will do this every ten seconds or so for several minutes at a time. One forum member suggested the problem is the sensor that sends a temp reading to the gauge itself, and that is very likely, but I was thinking it was the coolant temp sensor that sends data to the ECU, because I am also experiencing reduced fuel efficiency and, sometimes, a slight delay in the engine turning over on a warm start. Both of these symptoms are supposedly indicative of a bad coolant temp sensor. I keep a record of my MPG for every fill up, and I noticed at the same time the gauge started jumping around randomly, I started getting 3 MPG less than average.

The only thing that confuses me is that BOTH of these problems involve the temp gauge, but they involve what appear to be different sets of wires, and also the symptoms are different--in one problem the gauge jumps up and down, in the other problem the gauge shoots straight up and kills the engine. Do you think these are somehow related, or is it just that multiple sensors and sets of wires are all independently going haywire at once?

Please let me know if y'all have seen anything like this before!

Thanks! This forum is the best!