Says runs Hot

[stirfry]

He everybody. This is a simi tech question. my temp for water runs 1/2 between H&C which seems high to me. I do run the air. Is that normal what are normal readings?

[Ttomes]

Now driving my second Cruiser and the needle always sets right in the center between h & c after it warms up. Must be ok.[8D]

[TripleJackInGA]

If the guage reads halfway between Hot and Cold, then it would be neither Hot nor Cold........hence, safe to assume normal.

[Grouch]

I have to agree mine stays right in the middle.

[MichaelDay]

Several automotive manufacturers have found through painful experience that if they put "real" gauges on their vehicles the dealers get more customers coming in complaining about problems with higher temperatures or lower oil pressure, etc when there is a slight change. To avoid this situation, the manufacturers did the more knowledgeable drivers a great disservice. They made a gauge that is little more than a warning light. The temperature gauge on the PT Cruiser, like the oil pressure gauge on Ford trucks and vans, is designed to register near the center of the gauge range without movement even though the actual readings are changing. Only when the readings are very low or very high does the gauge move.

That is why you will see many performance oriented PT owners adding an aftermarket temperature gauge that will actually tell them what is happening rather than waiting until thing get more extreme before the gauge moves.

Unfortunately, most of the driving public really only wants to know if they are in trouble right now, so idiot lights and semi-functional gauges/highly damped are the rule of the day.[xx(]

[stirfry]

Thanks Micheal. That makes a lot of sense, I guss this leads to another question if you don't mind answering. Or anyone. These are such small engines what besides geting a after market temp gauge, to keep an eye on things, will improve the cool runing of the car. It seems the little four banger would tend to want to overheat. I don't know enough about the engine. The car is 2002 and 3 month new to me. I was attracted by the looks design and praticaity of the car but don't know how the engine will hold up. Any suggestion would be appericated.
Mahalo, Rod

[Blade]

Rod, If your worried about the temp You could try Redline Waterwetter, I put it in my Dodge Ram and the running temp dropped about 8* although its not made to just drop the temp, it dose.
My PT runs just a hair below the center line also, It's just where they run, I've switched to Mobil-1 synthetic oil to reduce friction and will pick a bottle of water wetter up soon. Also you might consider a high flow catalitic converter as the more restricted holds a lot of engine heat.

[quicksilverdon]

quote:Originally posted by Grouch

I have to agree mine stays right in the middle.

Same here. Year around.[|)]

[TripleJackInGA]

Get a 180 Degree Thermostat.