Truckosaurus was right when he said many modern gauges are placebos. I was reading that Toyota have adjusted the reading on the temp gauge of the Camrys they export to the Middle East so that it always shows cool because that is what the customers like. There is no change to the engine running temp - just to the readings on the guage.
I had a Mini Moke years ago and I fitted a temp gauge to it. I was very glad of it because the engine did start overheating when it was a long way from anywhere and I had to nurse it to get back to civilisation.
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Alfasuds had a red light that was on from cold and gradually flickered out as the engine warmed up. Similar to the LED redline on a BMW M3 which limits maximum revs until the engine gets warm.
I think that some form of light system for cold as well as hot engines would be reasonable if the guage was to disappear from the dashboard.
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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My 1979 VW Polo had a temperature warning light. Flashing red meant overheating whilst solid red meant STOP THE CAR YOU IDIOT!There was a third stage when a flickering Red/Amber/Yellow meant your dashboard had burst into flames.
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I prefer to have a temperature gauge. Amongst other things it can warn you of a malfunctioning thermostat. A high reading can indicate that the thermostat isn't opening as it should, and a low reading can indicate that the thermostat has failed in the open condition ~ the latter is normally the case as thermostats are usually designed to be fail-safe. A low reading can also warn of an airlock in the cooling system and little or no circulation of coolant. (Spot it too late and the cylinder head might become distorted.)
(Heaven forbid that the speedo is ever deleted and you only get a row of lights to indicate that you have exceeded preset speed limits!)
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L\'escargot.
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Seem to recall the Citroen DS did not have a temperature gauge.
It had a BIG red traffic light in the middle of the instruments that kight up with the word STOP
seemed to do the trick
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It had a BIG red traffic light in the middle of the instruments that kight up with the word STOP seemed to do the trick
Nope. I remember this feature from a 1989 Peugot 405 driven by my dad, a chartered accountant. He wasn't mechanically minded.
One day he mentioned that a light on the dash had been coming on for a few weeks - could I look at it? Off I go - start her up, big red light says STOP! ... and a light for the oil pressure. Dipstick was dry, needless to say.
I took Mum's car to the garage to get some oil.
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My Xsara and my brother's 03 Megane both have STOP warnings. However, my brother, bless him, thought it lit up to tell him that the engine wasn't running... ie, stopped. :-)
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AS has rasied the real point - that a light is fine so long as everything is working.
Presumably, if a temp guage fails then the needle drops. If I've been driving for a while then I won't believe that and I'll know the guage has failed. If a light bulb that is normally off fails, then it shows the normal output and I'm no wiser.
So I'd rather have the reassurance of a guage.
Also, I drive two cars that don't like being revved hard on a cold engine. If the temp guage is pointless, why is the 911's calibrated in degrees C?
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An oil temperature gauge would me more useful. It would frighten you silly how little your oil heats up during most short journeys. IIRC Mercedes C and E class's have these in the Computer menu somewhere.
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And another point, what happened to the ammeter (sp?) ?? How can I be expected to tell if the battery isn't charging? And what about the little frisson of joy as I start my car and look for the swaying of the needle? Progress? Bah!
I look at my temp gauge every 1,000 miles, at a guess. A light is a much better solution, as it warns you even if your attention hasn't been on your motors internals. Let's face it, a car can easily overheat in five minutes; what are the chances that you'll be looking at your temp gauge at the right time?
How many cars overheat every year because (God help us, what an argument) the bulb has blown on the temp warning light? If it's one a year, I'll eat my hat.
V
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And another point, what happened to the ammeter?
At heart, I'm just yearning for the aircraft cockpits that I used to sit in! Every needle lost is a needle missed :-(
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Oh my heart yearns for the 1960s dashboard from a Jaguar with lots of Smiths gauges which flickered into life as the key turned, and that lovely switch to choose which fuel tank to use - just like an aeroplane!
That and a cold engine warning light please and I would be happy.. :-)
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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Round, black with white needle and marking, chrome rings, SMITHS written in the centre, all in a line............Oil pressure(PSI none of this bar carp), Oil temperature (degrees F), water temperature (degrees F), ammeter (-30,0,+30) 60 amps? unheard of)), Big round speedo with 5mph markings, with a blue main beam warning light in it and a green right indicator warning light (shaped like an arrow), and a fuel guage (in GALLONS), Rev counter to its left, with a red ignition warning light and a left facing green arrow.
Thats the way to do it!
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ooh RF you're making me all quivery!
Especially with lots of switches in the middle in chrome that flick up and down and not in and out. Suits me sir!
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Espada III - well if you have a family and need a Lamborghini, what else do you drive?
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Jaguar guages?
An oil pressure one that did not work due to faulty senders, and a revcounter that became cranky with age?
I preferred my 196 Rover 16: Temperature and oil pressure - two guages in one instrument. Press a button and oil pressure read oil level. And they all worked - all the time.
I think with Jaguars, probability theory suggested the chances of running a three or more year old car with all the guages working more than 2 days a year was 0.000000000000001%.. but that's proabbly optimistic:-)
madf
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reading the above is making my palms sweat!
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The temperature guage is useful in that it will tell you if the engine has run out of water, as used to happen in earlier days when the heasd gasket leaked, or the hose blew. Then the guage stayed on zero. Another method of detection was to check on the heater. If you are bombing down the motorway in winter and suddenly the heater cuts out, you know you have a problem. Look at the temperature guage, it's probably on zero.
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I'm amazed we have got this far down the thread and no-one (that I have noticed) has mentioned the words 'Hillman Imp'!
Maybe I'm just getting too old for the Back room?
Neither one I had boasted a temperature gauge but they didn't really need one - you had to accept that they were overheating for various reasons almost all the time!
And that was just one of the problems.
Strangely, they are among the few (of many) cars I've owned that I remember with affection...
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We haven't all forgotten the Imp. I had the Imp and also the Husky estate version - this was much better as there was more room to carry containers of water.
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And I'm reasonably certain my Singer Chamois (MK II, if you insist) had a temp gauge.
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My 1982 Granada Ghia has a temp. gauge, a oil pressure gauge, a ammeter, a low coolant level light, a low oil level light, a low screen wash light..... I find them handy, especially the temp. gauge as recently the thermostat stuck open and the engine was not warming up properly which could use more fuel and possibly ending up with emulsified oil which could block up the oil ways etc... SWMBO new Micra Dci SVE only has temp. warning lights...I much prefer a proper gauge! I quite like driving the Micra, but I'd rather stick to the granny - at least it starts with a normal key, but then that could be another thread!!!
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Funny you should mention ammeters. I've only ever (knowingly) been in two cars with them.
One was a good number of years ago in my Uncle's Opel Manta.
The other was last night in my uncle's Warrior. (God I love that truck).
With regards to the light or temperature gauge, I wouldn't care. The light does the exact same job so it wouldn't bother me.
Got to keep the tacho though.
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Adam
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