3:30 Temp Gauge
 

Sorry for any duplication, 95 850 NA, 200k, new 190 degree thermostat. Didnt replace temp sensor (the one under the thermostat) Temp gauge reads about 3:30, maybe 3:45, not completely horizontal. No lights on, no codes coming up. They say if a hot engine's computer was reading incorrectly, (too cool) it would throw a fault code. and i've got no codes. I know it should be at 3:00, unless someone in the past has monkeyed with the guage or the gauge is just wrong. I'd like to get to the bottom of this..... Thanks, Dave

Has it EVER sat @ 3:00? How old is the thermostat? Have you read the live data from the OBD-II port? My wagon gauge goes all the way down to cold sometimes while the car is @ 188°.

3:30
 

RSPI- no I dont think I've ever seen it at 3:00. Thermo is new. I took it to Autozone (and Advance) At those places they told me there was no way to read the actual temp. They did say if the temp was incorrect (if the sensor was bad) it would throw a code. No bad code = sensor is ok.....

Your car is '95 so it may not have OBD-II? They could always shoot the hose with an infrared thermo tool to read the temp on the hoses. My car is turbo so Volvo gave me the OBD-II port. I have a ScanGauge II so I read live data all the time. Not sure why my gauge drops to the ground about once per week.

I bet there is a way to check the engine temp with the OBD-I port under the engine but I don't know how. I just looked through some manuals and could not find an answer there either.

3:00
 

Well the little cover under the ashtray says OBDII, and when I hired out the thermostat install they did use the infrared, said the coolant was measuring 192 degrees. Maybe the Auto parts chains use the simpler code readers- or dont know how to read live data?

3:00
 

Did you ever find a cargo cover? cause my local u pull it has a wagon with a tan one. My interior is black / grey so I passed. Dave