temperature gauge

[12000]

hello all, is it normal for the car temperature gauge to read below a quarter in the cold in a vp and read 3/4 going up the adelaide hills in hot weather with the aircon on and 1/2 pulling a 6x4 ft trailer with boxes in it for about 20 kms or is there something wrong. if so is it the thermostat, upgrade of thermo fans needed, overflow bottle cap needed, oil and oil filter change needed, air filter change needed, dodgy gauge or all of them. cheers

[immortality]

whats it read under normal driving conditions etc. ti's normal for it to get a little warmer when towing large loads up big hills etc. a full service never hurts either. does the thermo fan come on when it gets above the second mark?(aboce 1/2 way)

[Morton]

Well, using the aircon on a hot day is always going to heat up the engine a knotch. So is towing, and so is a hot day. To give you an idea, I just flushed my cooling system, have a brand new thermostat (82 degrees, cooler than standard), and a good 50/50 mix of v-protecter coolant - a working water pump and a working thermo fan, fresh oil, new air filter, working guage... and I still get temperatures just over 1/2 when running through traffic on a hot day with the aircon on. In winter, you will find the guage hardly moves.

I think it's the towing that pushed you over he line (andthe hills). If I were you, I would have shut off the aircon and maybe turned on the heater (windows down ofc). That'll shake off a few degrees, guaranteed.

[Sp0tteh]

what your saying there is around normal

[arrow224]

That sounds like normala behaviour, for almost any car I would have assumed. Temperature would go up when it is a hot day, when towing, or when going up hills. When all 3 are happening, well, I would be extremely surprised if it didn't get hotter.

[fnlow1]

Mine sits there in traffic so consider yourself lucky mate