Temperature Gauge

cleverdick · October 27, 2005

The temperature gauge in my 1990 LS never goes above exactly half way. I'm therefore wondering if somebody 'fixed' it in a previous life to disguise a fault. I recently had to replace the coolant tank (which had split at the top as they generally do), and it occurred to me that even throughout the hot weather with a leaky cooling system, the tempertaure gauge remained remarkably stable.

Am I worrying unnecessarily? It seems pretty miraculous for the gauge to rise up and hit the mark precisely every time, regardless of the outside temperature.

Mr Morse · October 27, 2005

Sounds like it's doing exactly what is says in the tin!

Lex-aholic · October 27, 2005

Mine warms up and then stays on the half way mark. As long as your fans are coming on for the radiator I don't think there should be any reason to worry. :)

davepruce · October 27, 2005

I know I'm tempting fate but....... mine stayed spot on the centre towing a 'kin great 1500kg caravan down through France 3 years ago (very hot summer) at 70mph (the legal limit in France) mile after mile after mile......... (sorry kilometres in France).

It certainly never moves in this country, towed the same 'van back from Cornwall 2 years ago on the hottest day on record (you remember how hot it was?) and spent 2 hours starting and stopping on the A303 - it never missed a beat.

ROYT · October 27, 2005

Same for me'94 model ...half way only, look behind the radiator, have you seen the size of that fan.........

marriner3 · October 27, 2005

mine,s the same,the only time it moved above halfway was when the water pump when on the M1!(i stopped qucikly and no damage was done)

cleverdick · October 28, 2005

Well, thanks for your reassuring replies. Further evidence of just how remarkable these cars are. The reason I queried it was that all my previous vehicles (Fords) have showed some variation in temperature according to driving conditions. I thought that because this one doesn't it was too good to be true, but obviously not!

:winky:

eXOBeX · October 29, 2005

I've had 2 Corollas, 2 Carinas and 2 GS300s, the only time the needle ever wandered was when there was a problem (like when the water pump dumped all the coolant out of my Carina E and I had to coast into Brecon Police Station at 1am and ask for 3 kettlefuls of boiling water for the engine).

Rain or shine, once the engine warms up the needle stays put. Quality, see.