Club 80-90 Forums

Hi,

When i drive my van the temp gauge sits above half, just below 3/4's and wondered if this is normal?
i'm scared to drive long distances at the moment due to this as i'm new to these vans and still in the panicky stage, the most ive gone is 5 miles lol i thought it would sit around half way .
The fan hasnt come on yet, but ive bridged the switch to check the fan does actually work on both speeds.

The van has a new thermostat, new temp sender, new coolant and has been bled ( think i done it right)
is there a thing as a temp sender reading wrong?

If the light isn't flashing you're fine.
The light will flash if you have low coolant or overheating.
When I replaced my gauges, the old one read just above the white mark, this "new" one reads just over half way, if the heaters on just below half way.

The VAG calibration test for the temperature gauge is plus or minus one needle width from centre at normal operating temperature, yours is reading slightly higher than normal but the radiator fan would kick into stage one if the coolant temperature was above normal. Also, the LED will flash if the coolant temperature is excessively high.

This topic has been discussed many times regards temperature gauge reading, with some to the left, others in the middle or to the right. The gauges are fed by a 10v regulator and I have seen some dashboards with the regulator missing and the socket by passed. It is possible to check the engine temperature at a garage and they will use infrared measuring equipment and determine if it’s excessively high.

Presume the light flashes when you first start up and then goes off as it should.  When cold/before starting is the temperature gauge needle far over to the left.  Mine settles well to the left before the first white line then rises and settles around the middle area then depending if stuck in traffic on a hot day moves to where yours is now. 

Some people use an 80C thermostat to bring it down too, instead of the 87C. But try not to worry, as the team have said, if it’s not flashing and you’ve tested your fans, it’s ok.

if the sender working properly and the ground to the sender is good that should indicate the ~100C where the 2nd stage of the fan kicks in.

"Normal " can be anywhere it sits normally .
this is from the VW t25 owners handbook

TONYT25T25 wrote: ↑21 Oct 2021, 14:52 Presume the light flashes when you first start up and then goes off as it should.  When cold/before starting is the temperature gauge needle far over to the left.  Mine settles well to the left before the first white line then rises and settles around the middle area then depending if stuck in traffic on a hot day moves to where yours is now. 

yeah the light flashes first off all then goes off. and before i start the gauge is hidden away to the left.

thanks the replies guys, i just worry about these things but i'll get used to it hopefully!
cant believe normal can be all the way up to the line on the right, that would freak me out!!

That is exactly where mine sits after changing the sender - prior to that it used to sit bang in the middle. There’s a few threads on it as it seems a few people have experienced the same after changing the original.

It doesn’t move from there at all so don’t worry about driving it (I too was a bit reluctant when it first rose to that level).

Rebleed the system then check the new coolant strength. I bought some coolant a few years ago and using a Halford trio ball in a tube tester found the ready to use coolant under strength.
A higher than recommended water content will make your engine run hotter