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Author Topic: water temp reading.  (Read 1598 times)

Offline Carlos cabrio

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water temp reading.
« on: 17 March 2005, 22:50 »
My water temp needle creeps above halfway on the gauge on my 89 gti cab. How high should it go?
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Offline gibby

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Re: water temp reading.
« Reply #1 on: 18 March 2005, 09:13 »
It should really just go below the halfway mark but as long as it doesn't go to red it should be ok, I had this problem on mine and I had the thermostat changed, these are fairly cheap (about ?12) from VAG or Euro Car Parts but it will also cost you the price of filling up your coolant too as it will be drained when the thermostat is fitted. It may be something else that is causing this but this is the first thing to check and is also the cheapest. Mine happened  because the thermostat seemed to be sticking so I got it changed and it's now ok, I guess I could have left it as it wasn't going into the red but I was concerned that it was travelling higher than it used to. Hope this helps, good luck.  :smiley:
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Offline Carlos cabrio

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Re: water temp reading.
« Reply #2 on: 18 March 2005, 14:31 »
Yeah, Cheers pal. Gonna probably try that then.
When you say 'going to the red' do you mean flashing red light?
The light doesnt come on at all when the cars running.
I'm jus too scared to leave the needle rise and see if it comes down on its own.
Where should the needle settle when warm idle?
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Offline gibby

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Re: water temp reading.
« Reply #3 on: 18 March 2005, 15:14 »
No not a flashing red light as that is indicative of the coolant level being low and/or other problems, I mean going to the red on the temp gauge itself. At normal running or idle the needle is sat at just about below halfway on the gauge, or in the middle on mine, since I changed the thermostat well over 6 months ago I can't remember seeing it creep over halfway. As long as the needle doesn't go into the red then you should be ok and shouldn't worry about it too much as this is within the scope of a normal running temp but like I say, the thermostat may need changing to bring it down to below halfway.? :smiley: If the thermostat change doesn't fix the problem then you may need to look into this further and it could be something else, but you may as well start with the cheapest thing to change and that will be the thermostat.
« Last Edit: 18 March 2005, 15:17 by gibby »
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Offline BobbyT

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Re: water temp reading.
« Reply #4 on: 20 March 2005, 17:05 »
hi, mine sometimes goes just over halfway when sat in traffic but then the fan kicks in! not had any trouble with mine though! :smiley: (i know mines not a cab!! lol)
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Offline black_cabbie

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Re: water temp reading.
« Reply #5 on: 22 March 2005, 14:32 »
The led in the water temp gauge has two functions. If your car has a low level sensor on the expansion tank, it will trigger the relay in your fusebox and the LED will flash. If you don't have that sensor then its only for the "hey owner, I am burning here..." alert

A quick way to test the LED is to ground the cable briefly until the needle goes past a certain point the LED should flash.  Don't keep it grounded too long though. It might damage the gauge.
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Offline ronnie'C'

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Re: water temp reading.
« Reply #6 on: 27 March 2005, 17:12 »
Believe it or not but if you have too weak a water/coolant mix, i.e. to much coolant in the system then the car will run hot.
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