"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
The Natural Philosopher wrote:
In fact it went beyond that as well - the temeperature gauge was always
once warmed up EXACTLY in the dial ceter even when the warning lights
for overheating gearox came on!

Bosch engine management does this on lots of makes. The gauge isn't
showing true coolant temperature at all. Stays exactly on 'the mark' over
a wide range of normal coolant temps. Ideal for those who can't understand
the true coolant temperature can vary due to driving conditions.
A BMW I had allowed you to read true engine temp via the OBC display - if
you knew how to do it.

That's interesting. I have always been surprised at how consistent the
indicated temperature of my car is (once it's got up to temperature): I've
never ever seen the needle go above the vertical half-way position, even
when crawling along in a queue of traffic after previously driving at
motorway speed, when previous cars have shown the temperature go up a bit at
first because there's no longer the car's forward-motion draught over the
radiator to supplement the action of the fan in all dumping the heat from
the hard-working engine. Nor does the temperature rise when the engine has
to work hard climbing a long hill.

I'd put it down to a very responsive thermostat and radiator cooling that
was more than enough to keep the coolant down to temperature even in extreme
circumstances.

Maybe the needle is telling porkies... Hopefully it *would* rise into the
danger zone if the coolant really *did* get hot - eg if a hose burst -
otherwise it's not a lot of use in indicating a fault. And I know very well
what happens if a car is run for a long time with no coolant: my sister
trashed the engine of my mum's car when there was a coolant leak. In that
case, she didn't notice that the temperature had gone into the red zone
because the gauge and its warning light were (for some bizarre reason) down
by the gear lever rather than being on the dashboard with the other gauges
and with the warning lights. That was a Renault 14, in case you are
wondering which car had its temperature gauge in such a stupid place.