Modern cars - why no temp gauge?

[SuperchargedVR6]

GrizzlyBear said:

WeirdNeville said:

Get an OBDII dongle and then your phone can show you temp of various fluids and much much more.

More detail please, that sounds like fun.

Here's one company who offer that - http://www.plxdevices.com

[anonymous-user]

y2blade said:

I was surprised to see the E91 320D without a water temp gauge esp given the thermostat (EGR and Main) lunch themselves every few thousand miles...the driver's only indication that there is a problem is a change in MPG.

Although the dealers insist this isn't a common fault.

It's there, you just don't normally get shown it. Access the extended menu items to get digital read out of ECT (and a host of other data)

[B'stard Child]

Hugo a Gogo said:

most modern temp gauges are bullst anyway

set to move slowly up to half way then stay still

Agreed on the 740 the temperature guage reaches half way at 75 deg C (according to the hidden OBC) and stays there untill 118 Deg C - at 119 Deg C it buries itself in the Red and it ohh ste time

How exactly is that any use at all!!!

[Krikkit]

Captain Muppet said:

Precisely why the gauge isn't that useful.

I'm pretty sure oil reaches a useful viscosity well before the bulk oil temperature in the sump stabilises. Gauges are only as useful as the thing they measure.

Probably why we should harangue the oil manufacturers for oil viscosity characteristics for a range of temperatures rather than the two metrics for the published grade.

GrizzlyBear said:

WeirdNeville said:

Get an OBDII dongle and then your phone can show you temp of various fluids and much much more.

More detail please, that sounds like fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ay-ZvTn3fLo

[B'stard Child]

Flying Toilet said:

Mine are all digital and I agree with above posters, when the oil pressure drops slightly for a second and the oil temp goes over 100 on an enthusiastic drive I always wince a bit.

For a long while I struggled to keep my track car oil temperature below 135 Deg C.......

it was only the fact that the oil was rated to cope with up to 145 Deg C that I carried on

Resolved the problem eventually by blanking the Oil cooler thermostat and running full flow to the oil cooler - now once the long warm up has been completed it never goes over 105 Deg

[cornet]

jones325i said:

excel monkey said:

I thought the oil pressure gauge in the MX5 was just an idiot gauge with only two positions - "normal pressure" or "engine borked"

http://www.quadesl.com/miata_oil.html

Hmmm, the behaviour described in that article doesn't match the gauge in mine. It definitely seems like a proper gauge - its always moving and is very sensitive to engine speed. Perhaps that was just the mk2 (ours is Mk'3.5').

Pre-1995 models had a proper oil pressure gauge. Ones after that had "fake" ones, although it is relatively easy to retrofit a proper one.

[skinny]

Krikkit said:

Captain Muppet said:

Precisely why the gauge isn't that useful.

I'm pretty sure oil reaches a useful viscosity well before the bulk oil temperature in the sump stabilises. Gauges are only as useful as the thing they measure.

Probably why we should harangue the oil manufacturers for oil viscosity characteristics for a range of temperatures rather than the two metrics for the published grade.

if you're really that interested it's just a straight line with temperature between the two points (viscosity on a log scale)

for me, an oil pressure gauge is enough. over 60 psi at idle it's cold, under 30psi at idle, it's hot. i couldn't really care less about the specific kinematic viscosity at a particular temperature

[GetCarter]

I never spank any of mine till oil is at 90. Then I'll often give them st. Can't imagine buying a car that didn't give me oil/water temps. Engines are expensive, and one has to get home.

[Noesph]

My old 106 hasn't got a temperature gauge (of any kind) just lights. Trouble is the coolant light doesn't even turn on when you start the car, so you have no idea if it actually works anyway.

[CrispyMK]

If you've got the right stereo in an Astra Mk5 you can access a 'secret' menu that shows you the engine temperature. This came in very handy when I had a massive leak on my coolant system. I had never really missed it until I heard the fan kick in on a fairly cold day.

[g3org3y]

Cotty said:

Hugo a Gogo said:

most modern temp gauges are bullst anyway

set to move slowly up to half way then stay still

Isn't that an indication that the cooling system is doing its job.

Personally I prefer a guage so I can see if its getting hotter not a lamp to say its too hot. I had to balance the temp in my BMW with the heater one summer when the fan broke. It got toasty in the cabin but the engine stayed within limits, all closly watched on the guage.

The joy of E30 ownership.

[AlexRS2782]

threadlock said:

...the first Focus RS don't have gauges either...

This was due to the fact that Ford had to fit a boost gauge & decided that evidently the only place suitable for one in the entire surrounding area of the dash, was in the instrument cluster in place of where the temp guage on all other focus was fitted

I think most owners would've preferred if Ford had left the temp gauge, rather than fitting the nice inaccurate boost gauge in it's place.

[rumple]

I think its a shame really, with a full set of gauges you can see what's goo.g on in the engine and they look so good.

[Slow]

I can see when my cars heating slowly when sat in traffic.

Lets be know i better speed up to cool it, atleast thats what my passangers hear from me.

[Triumph Man]

AlexRS2782 said:

threadlock said:

...the first Focus RS don't have gauges either...

This was due to the fact that Ford had to fit a boost gauge & decided that evidently the only place suitable for one in the entire surrounding area of the dash, was in the instrument cluster in place of where the temp guage on all other focus was fitted

I think most owners would've preferred if Ford had left the temp gauge, rather than fitting the nice inaccurate boost gauge in it's place.

What's weird about that is that in the ST170, there was an additional instrument pod where the trip computer would go on some posher Focuses, which I believe had oil pressure and oil temp gauges. Don't know why they didn't just use that.

[Sticks.]

Iirc some Renaults didn't have them in the 80s.

[skyrover]

call me a luddite but I really like to see what my car's are doing under the bonnet.

Might have something to do with keeping a close eye on things in the cockpit, but one of the first things I did on my land rover was fit oil temperature/pressure gauges and tachometer

[jones325i]

cornet said:

jones325i said:

excel monkey said:

I thought the oil pressure gauge in the MX5 was just an idiot gauge with only two positions - "normal pressure" or "engine borked"

http://www.quadesl.com/miata_oil.html

Hmmm, the behaviour described in that article doesn't match the gauge in mine. It definitely seems like a proper gauge - its always moving and is very sensitive to engine speed. Perhaps that was just the mk2 (ours is Mk'3.5').

Pre-1995 models had a proper oil pressure gauge. Ones after that had "fake" ones, although it is relatively easy to retrofit a proper one.

Does that definitely include the latest model? Ours honestly does seem to work like a proper gauge - pressure correlates closely with revs, and it doesn't just move in discreet steps. My only other experience of an oil pressure gauge was driving an Interceptor- that gauge was very similar.

[lbc]

I used to have an older Audi A4, and after it having a service that went wrong the whole dashboard seemed to light up warning me that the car was over heating and about to explode into a million pieces.
The independent garage plonkers that I had not used before did not use a clamp on the bottom radiator hose after replacing the anti-freeze!

I really don't see the point in the temperature guage unless there is a major failure as on the Audi.

[DKS]

There is a scenario where the coolant leaks out of the engine, so the sender for the dash and/or is no longer surrounded by water so it actually reads less. Does a modern clever car flag this up as fault? At least once I've been concerned at temperature falling for no reason, pull over and find a leak.