I'm sure i've found a fault in my '99 1.8hlx. The temperature guage rarely goes above a quarter. If it does its because i'm sitting idling for 3 or 4 minutes. As soon as i start moving about again it starts dropping back down to below the quarter mark. On my 1.4 it sits at exactly halfway, and never moves from there once its warmed up. That felt good, but on the 1.8 its a bit disconcerting.

Any ideas?

We had a debate a while ago about this, half the owners gauges sit exactly 1/2 way and dont move (like mine), the other halves sit around about the 1/4 mark.

If you are sat in traffic for 3-4 mins, it should go up, the fan then kicks in, then it goes back down.

I would say theres nothing to worry about...

Daz

its a smidge less than a quarter tbh. I'll keep an eye on it when i'm out tomorrow and let you know exactly how far down it is. if its running too cool, i dont want to damage the engine. likewise, if its reading low, then when it does get to be too hot, the guage may just be sitting on the halfway mark.

Pauls gonna be real offended when he reads this.... nowt meant mate, just checking

Its cool mate! i thought the same with my 1st HLX which i bought over a year ago... it was one of the first questrions i asked... Daz sumed it up really, half agree and half disagree... so it never bothered me otherwise they all would have send sort it out but they didnt!

Dont worry mate, you will go over the car with a fine tooth comb and find more things wrong then i ever knew! just because you have just bought it and you want to make sure everything is A1!

Although i am quite confident you wont find many things!

Paul R

a quarter

mine runs at a quarter

it goes up another notch when doing sustained motorway travel
@ 4000rpm

it goes upto half way when stood still but then the fan kicks in.

my car seems to run well and the coolant don't kick in before the heater gets upto temp so it is getting warm (or it doesn't go into the radiator until it gets to its ideal temperature

i assume it runs at the right temp and believe the dials to have abit of variation in them, the fact there is no exact temp readings may mean its just a general indicator and not precise

only way to be sure is look in the manual and see the temperatures that it should run at then stick a high temp thermometer in the raditor tank and take a reading

Re: a quarter

"stick a high temp thermometer in the raditor tank and take a reading"

I don't know about you, but i won't be opening the radiator tank when its hot

Daz

Re: a quarter

Plus the water doesn't flow through the expansion tank so the temp of the water there will not be the temp of the water in the engine.

sigh

sigh

sorry Tom

i've had the radiator cap off after a jolt down the motorway (70miles) let the pressure out and it was fine.