I hadn't even considered grounding out the body of the sensor....that would make sense to try...I'll try it tonite.

Well, Did Eddie's advice work?  I recommend putting the sensor in and then checking to see how far in the head or manifold it will go.  Then remove it and put a strip of teflon tape on the threads that are the last to engage the hole.  Don't put anything on the end of the sensor.

I think I figured out what was wrong.

  I'm now running 2 sensors. 1 to control the fans. It's sitting in the block by the exhaust manifold.  The other is in the intake and all it does is control the temp gauge.  So far it seems to work fine since my gauge and my fans all work.

FIngers are crossed.