Problems With my Temp guage

[owner5563]

Hey guys Ive got a bit of a personalized temp guage issue. So I havent owned my 98 gsx very long but since I bought it my temp guage creeps up slowly only when the car points up hill, now mind you it never actually overheats but im still uncomfortable with where it sits at. I took it too a mechanic here and they kept it for a few hours and told me that they hooked it up to a scantool and when the guage was at 3/4 of the way up (where it creeps to) that it was at 200 degrees. So my question to the dsm community is 1st is it possible for the mechanic to determine that from a scantool? 2nd is it possible my guage is sensitive to the levelness of the car?

 

[bonusboy]

The stock temp gauge isn't linear so you will get a fairly quick rise to the center mark then it will just shoot up! and by that time its too late!

the ecu does show water temps so a scan tool will tell you what the temp is. but your car has two seperate sensors one for the ecu and one for your dummy gauge.

check your coolant, check your rad cap, check for leaks and check your fans.

 

[owner5563]

Ive been keeping an eye out for any leaks but havent found any and the coolant seems to be fine and I know that the fans are working properly I will have a look at the rad cap in the morning though.

 

[_Waffles_]

Radiator cap would be my first inclination. As the pitch of the vehicle changes, the fluid will as well. The coolant in the engine will not be affected due to it being circulated and pressurized, but the coolant at the top of the radiator can change if the radiator is not under full pressure. This can cause a coolant shift, and thus cause the (bad) radiator cap to act differently and hold different pressures due to more/less air around it.

I will be honest, I have never seen this in a car, but I have seen a few older Yamaha and Suzuki motorcycles do this.

 

[Stee420aT]

driving up hill would put more load on the engine in which case would cause it to heat up if there is indeed something wrong with the actual system

 

[owner5563]

that was my first thought that it was the load being put on the engine but I vaguely remember parking it on a hill from flat and watching the guage creep up as well. Im going to replace the rad cap today because it looks a little rough and will let you all know.

 

[clipto]

Most dsm's that I have seen logs run about 203 degrees on logs. So you the 2 things you can do is get like ecmlink watch logs for the temp, or buy an aftermarket water temp gauge if you wanna know for sure. But 200 degrees is fine just make sure your not running straight water. If no heat shield and such expect higher temps. You can always flush the coolant system too. Also always keep an eye on the coolant level and burp the system too.

 

[owner5563]

wow I know this its been pretty long thanks for all the advice guys. Flushed coolant and one leaky hose later dummy gauge reads perfectly center everytime. So glad there werent any major issues....now sounds like my harmonic balancer is going out