What is the normal operating temperature on a 2003 3.0L X-Type?
Mine is always running a just hair below the middle of the temperature gauge. Most other cars I have had seemed to have run cooler than this, but maybe this is normal?

 

somewhere else on this forum i read that the temp gauge on the x-type is not a real temp gauge at all, as its readings are massaged electronically. it has three readings - cool, rising to normal, then hot. it is electronically pinned to the middle of the gauge when everything is good until there is a problem when it will fling itself to the extreme right.

i was a little disappointed when i read that.

 

I've read that here also. I don't know about everyone else here but the guage on my '03 doesn't work that way. It works just like a temp gauge is suppose to. It starts out reading cold then as the engines warms up it slowly climbs to the mid point or normal. A while back when my fan controller went south and I installed an auxillary fan to take over the cooling job, if I forgot to switch it on when the gauge needle started to go above normal, the gauge didn't immediately jump to hot but climb slowly and then came back down as it should when the fan started doing it's job. If I caught it in time the temp would come down before the hot engine light came on which was when the needle was just short of hot zone on the gauge.

 

mine does the warm up thing and then just sits at mid temp and doesn't move discernibly from then on - i guess that's fine. it does that even when the external temp is above 43 deg Celsius. not that I'm complaining.

still mid temp on the dial is normal for an x.

 

Green Machine is right about this. Although the gauge IS CONTROLLED/MONITORED by the ECU and then a signal sent to the gauge itself you are reading the actual temp like most gauges. The temp on the vehicle is fairly stable and you will not see much movement unless something is wrong. I have never seen my gauge move lower once it has reached its stable point. I have seen it rise when something goes wrong. It is a normal rise and not a simple sudden Over Temp situation.

I recently installed a Temp sender on my water pipe connected to the back of the water pump. I have not permanently installed the gauge as of yet so I cannot comment with certainty that the water temp is stable once the engine is at operating temp.

The gauge I missed the most and could save you $$$$ is an Oil pressure gauge. I never saw a warning light on my console and ended up spinning a rod bearing. I located a "plug" just above the top of the Power Steering pump. This is where I installed my Oil Pressure sender. Again I have not permanently installed the gauges as of yet. The X-Type has both oil temp and oil pressure senders already installed and sends the signal to the ECU. Now why didn't Jaguar/Ford put in a LIVE gauge?????

 

thanks for explaining.

i would imagine the reason they did not put an oil gauge in would have been an issue of cost and cabin aesthetics. i guess they didnt think of integrating it into the display for the trip computer - so that you could display it as real time display if you wanted too.