Engine Temperature: What do you guys get?

[lgvl]

So my 82' C30 454 never seems to break the 1/4 mark for engine coolant temperature. The dial of course doesn't give much indication of where exactly the temp is supposed to be so i was wondering what everyone else has. At first this seemed too cold and thought my mechanical fan clutch was busted but the clutch turned out to be fine. Anyone else see similar readings? Also the 1/4 temp is pretty constant in all outside temps.

Thanks!

[meatwagon83]

mine runs about 210 no matter what i seem to do

[79Betty]

Mine's 190 year round... Cept last 5 months it's been whatever temp it was outside lol

[Rascal_one2001]

My 454 runs 180-190
My 350 runs 200-210

[83GMCK2500]

My 400 runs 165-170 all the time, it used to barely come up off cold and I discovered that my thermostat was stuck partially open.

My first truck '86 C2500HD 454/400 would run at 190ish all the time.

[INSIDIOUS '86]

Mine gets to about 130* haha and its a 400

[Skunksmash]

Originally Posted by lgvl

So my 82' C30 454 never seems to break the 1/4 mark for engine coolant temperature. The dial of course doesn't give much indication of where exactly the temp is supposed to be so i was wondering what everyone else has. At first this seemed too cold and thought my mechanical fan clutch was busted but the clutch turned out to be fine. Anyone else see similar readings? Also the 1/4 temp is pretty constant in all outside temps.

Thanks!

Your gauge is likely dead wrong.

[S10Fan]

My C-10......Stock Gen 5 454 converted to carburetor, mechanical fan with new fan clutch, stock shroud, stock small block radiator, 180 degree thermostat, runs 180-185 year round.

My S-10 (recently sold)......Stroked small block 60 over, mechanical fan, full shroud, Corvette radiator, 180 degree thermostat, ran 185-190 year round.

[lgvl]

I guess my problem is that my gauge doesn't have numbers only 4 quarters. Does anyone know what temperature each quarter is?

[S10Fan]

Just to add.......My S-10 gauge was reading up towards 215-220, checked everything, couldn't find a problem, nor did the motor have any of the characteristics of a "hot" motor. Borrowed a friends infrared temperature gun (a good one) and started checking things out. The gun didn't give any reading indicating too high of a temperature. I called Sun (Sunpro gauges) and was suprised at what one of their tech guys told me. He said their temperature gauges can be off by as much as 20%. I had planned on replacing all the gauges with Auto Meter but sold the truck before that happened.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by lgvl

I guess my problem is that my gauge doesn't have numbers only 4 quarters. Does anyone know what temperature each quarter is?

They are kinda open for interpretation, because:

a) The readings are not linear. On my gage straight up is 210. The first mark is labeled 100, so halfway would be "155" or roughly 160. The highest mark is labeled 260, so the 3/4 mark would be roughly 235.

- but -

b) The gage labeling can be different for different engines

- and -

c) We (GM) can change the by increasing or decreasing radiator size - or - in modern days, faking it out with different sofware multipliers and correction factors.

The goal among the GM powertrain cooling team is to have the needle read straight up for aesthetic purposes, and because the "higher" operating temps are better for warmup, calibration and engine emissions.

K

[Rich84]

I found that when my temp. gauge was just below 210* it was actually running at 190-195..Same as my 2006 Tahoe..I would think that if your cooling system is working properly they should run pretty close to your thermostat temperature.

[tucsonjwt]

My 83 C20 454 runs at 160 degrees with a 160 degree thermostat. I have replaced all of the cooling components with AC Delco OEM parts, except for a copper/brass radiator (larger 2 row) from Ready Rad. Even in 115 degree desert ambient temperature it stays at 160 degrees. I also added a condensor pusher fan from a 98 Geo (for space reasons) and that helped the A/C performance a lot but did not change the 160 degree temperature reading. I have a granny 4 speed, not automatic, but I do have the factory oil cooler.

[Keith Seymore]

My V6 runs at the first mark regardless of the weather.

I can watch it climb to slightly over the mark and then see when the thermostat opens for the first time; it drops down after that and stays there.

K

[csdineley]

My 87 3/4 ton 350. Runs up to the 1/2 mark. Then the thermostat opens and it drops to the 1/4 mark. And stays there most of the time.

[Rich84]

I drilled 2 small holes in my thermostat to eliminate the big spike in temperature. It would head for 220* then open. Now it warms up to 180* and stays there. In traffic it goes to 200*, then the fan kicks on and you can watch it drop back to 180*.

[Tdubbyount]

I've got a stock temp gauge in my 79, along with an mechanical autometer mounted elsewhere. I've found that my stock gauge constantly reads 200-210, while my autometer guage reads just below 190

[zaccaglin]

After replacing my tremors that with a genuine ac delo one my 6.2 now comforter runs at 195.

[donut]

Much better than I could have put it, and from someone "in the know".

I was taught that the gauge is just that, a gauge. They're not calibrated as a precision instrument, just that at this mark is normal for you, but if your at these marks, something's wrong.

Kinda like at a carnival. The gauge says "you must be this tall to ride", but I wouldn't use the same gauge to build a house. Even though it does "measure".

I always figured this is the way it was. Doing research on my Trailblazer, the computer reads the temp sensor. It also tells the gauge what to read depending on program parameters. Just enough to either give you a warm fuzzy, or panic mode.

[mickeykreg]

Two summers ago I was pulling 6-8% grades in Idaho when it was 95-100 degrees outside. Good thing I only had about a 1000lb. load of rafting gear. The (350/195 thermo) in my C30 was running at about 210 on the flats, but pushing 225-230 on the grades. Those temps kinda freaked me out.
I was running a Napa aftermarket gage in addition to the stock cluster gage. After experimenting with my thermo, and gage sensor, by slowly bringing a pot of water to 212 I switched to a 180.
This past summer while running much of the same country it did pretty much the same thing minus the 15 degrees, which I decided was good enough. Now my 180 thermo setup runs at 190 on the flats and about 210 on steep grades.
100 degree ambient temp, pulling 8% grades, with 1000lb load, is about as hard as I ever work my truck. This past summer I did a 2500 mile trip in such conditions, and so far so good.

[Blackpony]

I have a 160 stat and cruising down the hwy, it stays around 155-160. When I come to a stop light the fans keep it around 180 where I have them set. Never considers getting hotter then that.

[chevy-fun]

in my 84 the temp gauge is off by 10-15 degrees. running at 187* put temp gauge on dash shows 200*

[cory d]

about 1/8th of the way through he gauge. its probably wrong but i have a 160 stat but its a bit lean

[kalbert]

The gauge in the dash, especially the factory one, is more of a good/bad indicator than anything. If you point an infrared gun at the thermostat housing after a good 15-20 minutes of town driving on a warm to hot day with a full cooling system it should read +/- about 1% of what it was rated at. If it's too cold, the thermostat is opening too soon, if it's too hot any number of things might be wrong depending on what other symptoms there are.

[JellyBeanDriver]

Ours runs 190-220 depending on the load/hill (just before center to just after center on the dial)

Note that on ours the stock sender location is in the cylinder head between #1 and #3 and runs hotter than the actual coolant temp at the thermostat/water outlet.