I've read numerous posts criticising the effectiveness or accuracy of the temperature gauge. Mine rises to just shy of 12 O clock, almost vertical and sits there. The only time it ever fluctuated was when my thermostat went bad, but it returned to "normal" once the stat was addressed.

But yesterday, I noticed that my fans weren't running. They usually come on once the ignition is switched on. I don't honestly know how long this has been the case and today, I double checked their lack of activity, before, during and after a short journey. The temp gauge rose as normal to it's usual
resting place, with no change there. The weather is quite cold here at the moment (cold for us!) so it might worry me more in the summer time. I will check fuses and relays etc. tomorrow, but in the meantime, what's the story with the temp gauge.

Surely it's not a lot of use if it's more decorative than informative. Is there any aftermarket solution or alternative? It seems a bit crazy to leave your engine at the mercy of such an ineffective "warning device".

Thanks in advance.

 

The cooling systems on these cars are pretty darn good and reliable. Not too much to worry about. Replace hoses before they fail and you're good to go.

I objected to the "dummy gauge" at first but....well.... I guess I just sorta caved in.

Cheers
DD

 

Oh.....one more thing....

In case you didn't know it you're oil pressure gauge is a "dummy" as well.....as only the early 95's had the "real" ones.

Cheers
DD

 

Thanks for that. Once I get the fans running I'll be a lot happier. I just felt that without fans, the engine temp has to be running a bit higher, but still no indication of this on the gauge. It seems that it will only respond to a total failure, as in, loss of coolant!

 

Just because the fans are not running doesn't automatically mean the engine is running hotter.

The engine temperature is finely controlled by the thermostat opening and closing to regulate flow through the radiator. Certainly in winter in driving conditions I would not expect the fan to be required. It would only be needed where the thermostat was wide open and the flow of air through the radiator from normal forward motion was insufficient to cool it, ie for sustained period at idle or in slow moving traffic.

 

FWIW, using scan tool readings, my temp needle hit "N" at 174ºF and stays there until at least 205ºF. I've never seen anything above 205º, even in very adverse conditions, so I'm not sure how high the temp has to be before the needle moves to "H".

Cheers
DD