Five-8

Hi All

Last couple of weeks the temp guage seems to sit noticeably higher than it has all year.(its not a big difference-its sitting on the 2/3 mark whereas before it was 1/8" or so below that).
Coolant was flushed in the spring and a new thermostat was installed, i havent done anything to the car (that i remember) so the change has manifested itself of its own accord.
Only thing really that has changed is the ambient temperature that has dipped significantly last couple of weeks.Car is not a daily driver, but i do try to get out for a little run every day before the car goes under the cover.
Pretty sure there is about a dozen possibilities at play here, would appreciate hearing what you guys would suspect.
Temp does not climb appreciably in stop/go traffic,nor does it drop much on the highway.

Did a search, but most threads deal with much higher temp issues

Thanks as always,
Cheers

Barry Chan

All i know is if temp doesn,t drop while on hiway, it's not air flow, it's coolant flow, i'll check thermostat even tho its pretty new, radiator blockage, for our weather now being pretty cold if it's air flow when car is moving, it drops to the first white line and that's what mine does, hope this help.

jpitman2

Does the reading change when you turn on/off anything electrical? Mine used to jump 1/8" when I turned any lights on - eventually fixed when I pulled the pod and cleaned all the wiring contacts - bad ground contacts.
jp 83 Euro S AT 54k

928 at last

Adrian,
Could be electrical. Our gauges are notoriously inaccurate. Put an IR gun on it and see what the temp really is when fully warmed up.

Maleficio

Temp sensor?

Five-8

[QUOTE]Does the reading change when you turn on/off anything electrical? Mine used to jump 1/8" when I turned any lights on - eventually fixed when I pulled the pod and cleaned all the wiring contacts - bad ground contacts./QUOTE]

Ah...i noticed mine does the exact same thing some time ago,but what i don't know is if it does it now that the guage is higher...worth checking out.. so thanks!

Barry..i've never seen the temp guage down to the first mark and i drove it well into december last year, i think i will replace the thermostat again in the spring as i was going to flush the coolant again anyway...thanks for your input.

Cheers

Five-8

Rob i will put the IR gun on it,(if i can find one)...hmmm need to go looking for what the acceptable temps are.

Maleficio...new temp sensor would probably be a good idea, so i'll tack that onto the spring list...thanks!

Cheers,

928 at last

Adrian,
Princess auto usually has them for a reasonable price, and Canadian Tire carries them too. Handy to have with our cars. (and if you want to check the house for drafts and cold spots in the winter....).

There's threads here that detail which hose should read roughly what temp.

Interesting that the last mark is roughly where the car should be running at (IIRC) 185.

Barry Chan

I said that (try the thermostat) is because it took me the third thermostat to work properly 3 years ago when i did the whole cooling system, might not be your issue. Also when i drive in 0 degree outside temp, sometime it's below the first white line on the gauge

Five-8

I have an additional question,and forgive me please if it's a stupid one, but could an intermittent slightly higher idle speed when the engine is warm be related to this issue(by higher i mean about 1100 to 1200) where normally its about 750 or so)
I don't think these two changes happened simultaneously, i think the first time i noticed the higher idle speed was about 3 weeks ago.The temp issue is more recent(i think)

Thanks,

Maleficio

I don't think there's a connection. Coolant warms up, and is regulated solely by the thermostat, the car adapts to the coolant's temp during warm-up, etc.

Maleficio

So maybe you do have a coolant problem, and the temp sensor's sending erroneous data out making the car think it's still warming up?

Five-8

Maleficio..the car idles normally at start up, does that jive with what you are suggesting?

Thanks,

Maleficio

How does your exhaust smell after the idle ramps up? Rich?

Every time my 82 would act funny I'd go ground scrubbing, usually helped.

But you may have something legit going on, air/fuel monitoring, like ox sensor.

Maleficio

I wonder what a cold start valve stuck open would do to the idle after warmup?