In article ,
NY wrote:
"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.

They tend to rise very quickly once the normal range is exceeded. The aux
air con fan on mine failed, and it went from the normal reading to near
maximum very quickly when idling in traffic.

--
*I don't believe in astrology. I am a Sagittarius and we're very skeptical.

Dave Plowman London SW
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