Does Your Temp Gauge Move?

[Capri to ST]

My car is only a week old. I noticed today on a cold start, first start of the 90 degree day, it was immediately at 4 bars (or at least it was there after only a minute or two when I thought to check it, having not noticed it displaying less bars previously), which is where I would expect it to be when warmed up. It didn't start with no bars or fewer bars and light up more bars as it warmed up, which is what I would expect. Is this normal? I doubt that it is, I know it's not a super-helpful gauge, but I would expect it to display more bars up to the normal 4 as it warms up. Coolant looks to be at the normal level.

 

[Zormecteon]

Mine runs at 4 bars when fully warmed up....

New cars since.. .. well I'm not sure when, even if they use a gauge, are set up in such a way to report "medium" unless there is a real problem. For example, rather than point to 170 degrees, then 180, 190, 200,... as temperature rises.. then 220, 230 ... . they will just remain in the middle of the gauge from ... say 180 to 230... operating temperature.... That's when they use a needle.. the manufactures don't want people to become alarmed or to take it in for "minor variations" .. You;ve seen how people on the list will report that they're getting only .. say..19.8 lb's of boost instead of 19.9 or 20.0.. .. .. so rather than have temperatures quantified EXACTLY, they only report if it's "NORMAL" range or "ABNORMAL"..

YMMV

 

[Capri to ST]

but does it show less than 4 bars when you cold start it?

 

[CanadianGuy]

but does it show less than 4 bars when you cold start it?

Yes. Fast to go up but no bars and each bar is 25 degree Celsius (not sure in f). If you have the cobb ap or another obd2 scanner you can see what the temp is. If it was me I would have this looked at or look into it myself.

 

[Capri to ST]

Yes, that's what a warranty is for, I'll call the dealer Monday.

 

[Sil3nt611]

It warms up extremely fast in hot weather. So much so that if it's 90*+ out it will be at normal operating temp in about 30 seconds for me. If it's been sitting out in 100*+ uncovered for hours it may already show at maybe a bar below operating temp on a cold start. Really the only time my Fiesta has taken longer than about a minute to normal operating temp (once you start driving) is in the dead of winter. Try it when it's been sitting overnight but the sun hasn't really been out long. You'll probably start with 1 bar. It also does go all the way up which I had hope to never see again. Mine was one of the ones with a bad cooling fan relay and it died while I was sitting in bumper to bumper traffic.

Anyway, just do some of your own testing before wasting yours or their time having them diagnose something that may not actually be an issue. Check the gauge when you first start the car. As I mentioned, it doesn't take long at all for it to warm up during hot days.

 

[Capri to ST]

It warms up extremely fast in hot weather. So much so that if it's 90*+ out it will be at normal operating temp in about 30 seconds for me. If it's been sitting out in 100*+ uncovered for hours it may already show at maybe a bar below operating temp on a cold start. Really the only time my Fiesta has taken longer than about a minute to normal operating temp (once you start driving) is in the dead of winter. Try it when it's been sitting overnight but the sun hasn't really been out long. You'll probably start with 1 bar. It also does go all the way up which I had hope to never see again. Mine was one of the ones with a bad cooling fan relay and it died while I was sitting in bumper to bumper traffic.

Anyway, just do some of your own testing before wasting yours or their time having them diagnose something that may not actually be an issue. Check the gauge when you first start the car. As I mentioned, it doesn't take long at all for it to warm up during hot days.

Thank you for taking the time to provide this helpful detailed information. I had looked at the temp gauge previously a minute or so after cold starting, saw four bars, and thought the gauge didn't work. Today I looked at it the moment I cold-started the car, and to my surprise, no bars. The first lit up after just a few seconds, the second at about 30 seconds, the third at a minute to a minute and a half and the fourth and final bar at around two minutes. This was after sitting 19 hours overnight, temp low 80's. It's just not how I'm used to gauges working, which is that it would take considerably longer to show the coolant up to operating temp.
This is the great thing about a car forum, when someone who has experienced something you haven't, or knows something you are wondering about, shares that information. You may have saved me an unnecessary trip to the dealer, so thanks again.

 

[Sil3nt611]

Thank you for taking the time to provide this helpful detailed information. I had looked at the temp gauge previously a minute or so after cold starting, saw four bars, and thought the gauge didn't work. Today I looked at it the moment I cold-started the car, and to my surprise, no bars. The first lit up after just a few seconds, the second at about 30 seconds, the third at a minute to a minute and a half and the fourth and final bar at around two minutes. This was after sitting 19 hours overnight, temp low 80's. It's just not how I'm used to gauges working, which is that it would take considerably longer to show the coolant up to operating temp.
This is the great thing about a car forum, when someone who has experienced something you haven't, or knows something you are wondering about, shares that information. You may have saved me an unnecessary trip to the dealer, so thanks again.

Yep, keep checking it everyday, but it's likely working as it should. I wouldn't ever take my car to the dealer for warranty stuff unless I knew with absolute certainty that something wasn't working right.

 

[BobMaxed]

Yup. Agree 100% My 2002 Miata was that way. The largest forum for this car had instructions on how to modify the gage so that it would be more accurate.

 

[CanadianGuy]

I seem to remember that you can use the diagnostic mode of the test mode to see the items. I beleive one was temp.

[video=youtube;MroSpd8fP5Q]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MroSpd8fP5Q[/video]

 

[blakewillingham]

According to my OBD2 the 4 bars appear at "operating temperature" at 122 degrees F. Obviously not operating temperature. I'd drive around a few more minutes so it can actually warm up to operating temperatures before boosting

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

 

[Capri to ST]

According to my OBD2 the 4 bars appear at "operating temperature" at 122 degrees F. Obviously not operating temperature. I'd drive around a few more minutes so it can actually warm up to operating temperatures before boosting

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

Thanks. I figured out it does move, but just goes from 1 bar to 4 so quickly that you have to watch it immediately after a cold start to see it going up. In this hot weather, mine is at 4 bars in about a minute and a half. I'm not going past about 3500 rpm because I'm breaking it in, but after that will drive it for 10 minutes or so before getting on it.

 

[blakewillingham]

Thanks. I figured out it does move, but just goes from 1 bar to 4 so quickly that you have to watch it immediately after a cold start to see it going up. In this hot weather, mine is at 4 bars in about a minute and a half. I'm not going past about 3500 rpm because I'm breaking it in, but after that will drive it for 10 minutes or so before getting on it.

It is odd that they set it up to work like this to me it's very inaccurate. Even in the winter time in Texas, 50 degrees lol, the gauge says the engine is warmed up but it's been running for like 3 or 4 minutes I know it takes longer for a vehicle to warm up than that! Sometimes mine will start at 2 maybe 3 bars if the sun is beating down on it. I don't think it's anything to worry about just how they set it up.

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[Capri to ST]

I do recall reading a statement from Mike Miller, the long-time and experienced tech adviser to the BMW club, that modern car makers don't make coolant temp gauges too accurate on purpose. He said that's because coolant temps are used to affect a variety of things related to emissions and performance, and that if the gauges were too sensitive it would worry people to see the fluctuations.
Still, it does strike me that having a gauge which shows the coolant at normal operating temperature in 90 seconds after a cold start on a hot day as ours can is not particularly helpful. As others have said, there's no way it's fully warmed that quickly.

 

[BlueBullet]

I have watched it before and 4 bars show up somewhere around 100? I started it once after it sat for a few days in the direct sun and it showed 4 bars from the start. AP indicated something like 105? oil temp. It warms up quick for a 4cyl but not as fast as the gauge indicates.