It's a one-wire temp sensor.    I took the wire off,  and  got  like  8.956 ohm's  w/cold engine.   I still need to fire it up to working temp to see if it changes.  
Testing the  wire,  there's  some resistance too..  so  I think it's safe to say the wire isn't broke,  but certainly not grounded out.  

would  shorting the wire to ground for  a split second to see if the needle moves  a  bad move here?  
The whole dash is a printed  circuit board that uses tiny spring contacts for the various  warning lights and  gauges.. heat and vibration aren't particularly friendly here..