Engine Temperature: What do you guys get?

[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.