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Running cool or wonky temperature gauge?


paime

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I'm going to re-suggest the IR gun so you can get an accurate idea of the engine temp and can then relate that to the readings you're seeing. For what little they cost its well worth it. Any other faffing about without a good idea of actual running temp is chasing your tail to be honest.

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  • 3 weeks later...

So, things are looking better on the heating side of things. I changed the thermostat, heater matrix and 2 cooling hoses and she seems to be running better. It's been warmer up with us recently though so that might be making a difference.

On a related note, i've spotted the attached pic on my travels. How do you even go about fixing that? Could this be causing some issues with all my brake warning lights and the temp gauge as well?

 

20190105_161109.jpg

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As I think has been suggested earlier,  the two tests to do are to put your thermostat in a saucepan of water and gradually heat the water.  Use a cooking/toffee thermometer to monitor the water temperature.  With a "good" thermostat you should see it opening at the lower set temperature and be completely open at the higher set temperature.  Dailysleaze suggests these are 82 deg and 96 deg. for the TD5.  The second test, as suggested by Jocklandjohn, is to check the actual temperatures of the engine water circuit by using an IR temperature gun.  

Once you know you have a "good" thermostat and that the water circuit temperatures are realistic, if you still have unreliable readings on your water temperature indicator, you then have the option of removing the water temperature sensor and gauge and testing them in a saucepan of boiling water, which almost anywhere in UK is pretty well 100 deg. C.  If this proves you have a reliable sensor and gauge, then chase the earthing point issues.

Mike

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2 hours ago, Troll Hunter said:

As I think has been suggested earlier,  the two tests to do are to put your thermostat in a saucepan of water and gradually heat the water.  Use a cooking/toffee thermometer to monitor the water temperature.  With a "good" thermostat you should see it opening at the lower set temperature and be completely open at the higher set temperature.  Dailysleaze suggests these are 82 deg and 96 deg. for the TD5.  The second test, as suggested by Jocklandjohn, is to check the actual temperatures of the engine water circuit by using an IR temperature gun.  

Once you know you have a "good" thermostat and that the water circuit temperatures are realistic, if you still have unreliable readings on your water temperature indicator, you then have the option of removing the water temperature sensor and gauge and testing them in a saucepan of boiling water, which almost anywhere in UK is pretty well 100 deg. C.  If this proves you have a reliable sensor and gauge, then chase the earthing point issues.

Mike

this is a fair suggestion,

however testing the thermostat in boiling water is a pain in the arse as its an all in one assembly,

as ive mentioned before the gauge is ecu controlled on a td5 so the guage will read in the middle from approx 80c to approx 120c,

 

easiest way to check the coolant temp is to plug in with a suitable obd scanner & see what the live data is

 

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its also worth noting that if in your normal commute you are driving above 2000rpm in the warm up stage of your journey, the thermostat will be sucked into the fully open position by the waterpump thus circulating the full capacity of the cooling system rather than just the reduced warm up circuit

 

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5 hours ago, RedLineMike said:

its also worth noting that if in your normal commute you are driving above 2000rpm in the warm up stage of your journey, the thermostat will be sucked into the fully open position by the waterpump thus circulating the full capacity of the cooling system rather than just the reduced warm up circuit

 

I didn't even know this was possible! I've got a new thermostat in now and so far, so good. Still need to have a good check of the earths and i also have a HEAP of oil in my ECU block connector. Starting to think i should've bought a 300tdi to stay away from some of these electrical gremlins but hind sight is an exact science etc etc...

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29 minutes ago, paime said:

I didn't even know this was possible! I've got a new thermostat in now and so far, so good. Still need to have a good check of the earths and i also have a HEAP of oil in my ECU block connector. Starting to think i should've bought a 300tdi to stay away from some of these electrical gremlins but hind sight is an exact science etc etc...

to be fair id still rather a td5 than a 300tdi, at least with a td5 it tells you whats wrong with itself 😂😂

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