Just started looking at coolant temp, where should it be under normal running conditions in centigrade?

 

OEM thermostat is 180F, 82C

With the bold line at the bottom, cold end. of the gauge, both my cars run at the second line up all the time, no matter the load or ambient temp. Note: I have not had the pleasure of driving in triple digit temps.

 

the thermostat opens at 180, but they can you to 220 before it's going to overwhelm the cooling fans and cause the gauge to climb above it's usual position. The gauge seems to be more of a warning light than a way to accurately reqd the temp. I have a thermostat built into my radiator cap and I have seen it get above 200 right after it was worked hard.

 

Ambient temperature is a factor, and temps vary a bit among same rated thermostats. The normal range for a 180 degree thermostat is 185-200 in my vehicles with a warmed up engine.

 

do you just want to know where the needle is sitting at normal operating temp?

 

Thanks for the responses guys.
I was using an OBD II reader which was giving me a coolant temperature of 100 C, the gauge is showing just coming off that second line. Just checking, I think I'm good, but will keep monitoring it.

 

82 degree day. A/C on. 65mph on the flat. Ultra Gauge reads coolant at 194 degrees. Drive up from 2200' to 5000' in 6 miles, 6% to 7% grade, with cruise set to 65. The coolant temp tops out a 212. In town traffic at the top of the hill, it runs about 199.

The dash temp "gauge" never varied during 18 degrees of coolant temp change.

 

Temp gauges are indeed more like an idiot light. To keep people from freaking out over the temp varying under different driving conditions, they simply set the "needle" to the middle for a fairly wide range of temps. Was able to turn this "feature" off in the Saabs I used to own. Haven't looked into it for the SC430.

 

My engine and transmission temps after 20 minutes at highway speed, flat terrain are 190 and 153 F.
These are in idle, immediately after parking.

 

Cool dashboard.

It's it possible to share it?

 

I will see if I can export a configuration from Torque. I've never done that.

 

Thank you.

 

Here is a link to zip of my Torque Pro layout.http://cosalient.com/picture/lexus/k...20pro.dash.zip