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The engine coolant temperature sensor or ECT is a sensor on the engine which tells the ECM (engine control module) what the temperature the engine is. Modern engines are fuel injected so they dont have a choke. So they need the engine temperature to set the length of the pulse width (amount of time in milliseconds that the injectors spray fuel) at the injectors.
If the ECT goes bad (open circuit) the computer will think that it is 40 degrees below zero outside all of the time and the car will run very rich. If,on the other hand, the ECT shorts out, then the computer will think it is 384 degrees above zero and the car will run very lean.
The ECT is quite an important sensor on an engine. It is a thermistor. Which means that it changes resistance depending on the temperature.
In summary...the ECT tells the computer what the temperature of the engine is so the computer knows how rich or lean to set the injectors to compensate.
Of course the O2 sensor helps also but, that is another answer altogether.
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