Found this during my old change. The wire going down in the picture is not connected to the correct place.

Click to enlarge





any idea what it is?

Thermostat cable....goes from thermo, round the pulley, up thru the engine tin and ties to your blower housing flapper assembly.

Supposedly controls engine warm up by closing the cooling flaps in the housing until engine is toasty, the opens for full flow to cylinders and oil cooler.

schlitz is right. cable for your thermostat. can't see in the pic if the round pulley wheel is missing, but if it is, that might be the reason for your OIL LEAK ...
the bolt that normally holds down the pulley wheels is a *through* bolt.
if removed, your case will "vent" large amounts of oil to the enviroment (read, the outside of your motor) ...

anyways, cable goes around pulley wheel, straight up through the engine tin to the cooling flappers linkage on top of your engine, front, on the fan-shroud ...

Andy