Vehicle engine operating temperature range..

[thatguy]

I have a work car that that does not have a temperature gauge, just a digital readout if you rotate thru the odometer/trip meter/oil life meter/etc..

yesterday I noticed while sitting and waiting to go thru a car wash that the temperature got up to 220ish degrees.. Previously I had never seen it get hotter than 195 degrees - but that was when you were at highway speeds..

I took it to a repair shop to have it looked and and was told that is 'normal' and with a 195 thermostat and that they will get up to about 230 before the fans kicks in and it cools back off.. At highway speeds and while taking it to the repair shop the temps dropped back into the 190ish ranges.

Obviously i thought 220 too hot, but it appears I was wrong.. Does that make sense that it would normally get up to 220ish?

Brian

 

[Chuck52]

I had the same experience a few months ago. I do have a gauge on my Impala, but I kept noticing it was getting hotter than I thought I remembered it doing when I was sitting in traffic. I took it to the place I usually have work done and they said it was normal, and was in about the range you are citing for when the fan should kick in. With this shop, I figured if they told me there was no problem they must be telling me straight, 'cause they do like to find things to fix!

Chuck

 

[dmccarty]

The z28 I had a couple decades ago had an electric fan that would turn on when the coolant temperature got too high. The temperature would spike sitting at a light. I would watch the temp rise on the gauge, it would get to the magic point and the fan would turn on. I disliked the fan because of the noise it made. Course the car would have made a worser sound without the fan.

Once the car was moving there was enough air flow to keep the temperature down so that the fan would not turn on.

Later,
Dan