Silly question, normal running temp? 1.6d

[hibernatingbear]

Since I got my rabbit it has always seemed to run a little cool. Heat works fine. A little cold start issue but I'm going to bump the timing up this morning.

But with normal highway driving, this is as high the gauge gets... One thin line past the first thick line. If I'm pushing it really hard, maybe between the first and second thin line.

***ty pic but you can see where the needle is.



I need to hook up a real temp gauge but this will have to do for now...

Is this normal?

[theman53]

Most of my mk1 with that gauge ran at the last white line or in between the last white and first red line. So to answer, seems a little cool to me.

[hibernatingbear]

Most of my mk1 with that gauge ran at the last white line or in between the last white and first red line. So to answer, seems a little cool to me.

And that sounds crazy hot to me lol.

Was yours a diesel too?  Not sure if they run colder then a gas motor or not.

[theman53]

I have owned about 7 mki and mkii. All diesel except for the one gasser gti. All were right there.

[RabbitJockey]

mine tend to stay right in the middle of the gauge unless if there is something wrong, or you are going up a steep grade.  this is based off of 3-4 mk1s and a mk2 td

[hibernatingbear]

Hmmmm.... I know I'm getting the proper mixture of coolant and water. That would have been my first guess otherwise.

I guess I'll have to do a little more research. The car seems to run great and I get pretty good mpg.

[theman53]

The real question is, what does the line mean? My answer is who cares. That means nothing to me as it has no number value. If I have a gauge connected that can tell me what temp what line means then I worry. Until then as long as it wasn't boiling over or in the red I never worried. Obviously as it ran right there the entire time I owned all of them.

[hibernatingbear]

Yea I get what you mean but I know running a motor cold for long periods of time isn't great for the motor. That's my only concern.

[ORCoaster]

My 1.6 runs right at the 80 degree C mark on the VDO gauge that most VWs come with.  Lines are meaningless to me as well unless correlated to a value.  So for me the line in the middle of the temp gauge is 80 C.  As it should be.  I run a warmer thermostat as it is cool on the coast most of the year and warmer is better for a diesel. 

I should move one of the temp sensors I have for the WVO system to the line that cycles water through the FPHE as I don't use the duel fuel system in town.  That would give me a degree F. gauge that is sensitive to the .1 degree.  Thanks for making me think on that.  More driveway time for me. 

[hibernatingbear]

My 1.6 runs right at the 80 degree C mark on the VDO gauge that most VWs come with.  Lines are meaningless to me as well unless correlated to a value.  So for me the line in the middle of the temp gauge is 80 C.  As it should be.  I run a warmer thermostat as it is cool on the coast most of the year and warmer is better for a diesel. 

I should move one of the temp sensors I have for the WVO system to the line that cycles water through the FPHE as I don't use the duel fuel system in town.  That would give me a degree F. gauge that is sensitive to the .1 degree.  Thanks for making me think on that.  More driveway time for me.

Lol glad I could help. Nice to see another OR person on here.

All of this is just telling me I need a real temp gauge. Lol

[hibernatingbear]

Changed the thermostat and it's still showing the same. I'm going to order some senders for the gti gauges I have so I can finally get some real numbers.

We will see.

[ORCoaster]

Don,t wait for the sensors, just lay a candy thermometer or one of those digital ones you can use for cooking on the block or tape it to the rad hose.  Just remember to wipe it down good before you insert it into the next meal in the oven.  Anyone you know have a IR thermogun? 

[mtrans]

Good tip ORCoaster.
If there isn`t cold you can  remove thermostat,just to test.
In any case there is no air of corse.

[745 turbogreasel]

Removing a bypass type thermostat is a pretty dubious test IMO.  maybve pin it full open.

Love my IR gun.

That looks like just where my gauge in the Caddy sat with  an 87 stat, right down to the vertical motion blur.

Guys, it's the same gauge, just without numbers drawn on it, it's less confusing for American market drivers.
To test them, take a resistor of known value(varies by year) and connect it  in place of the sender,  the needle will point straight up.
Look at your coolant  sensor specs , and you  can know  exactly what that line is.
I'd not be surprised if the numbers are the dame on a 1.6  http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=464113

[Rabbit79]

I have both the factory gauge and an aftermarket VDO gauge in mine. My factory gauge usually runs in about the same spot as yours, which on the VDO gauge translates to around 180 degrees. I'm fine with it running at that temperature.