"Jon Blake" wrote
Seeking the group's wisdom on this.
> Car is 2005 330Ci, my first bimmer and one I'm enjoying greatly. >
> However, I find that the water temp guage is "buffered". That is when,
> say, climbing up a mountain road to a pass, many of which Washington State
> here in the USA is blessed with, the temp guage never climbs. When
> descending long stretches in cool weather the temp guage never makes any
> movement to a cooler reading.
BMW temp gauges don't actually read the engine temperature directly. It displays a readout from the engine computer, which knows exactly how hot it is from it's sensors. Newer engines even have the computer controlling the thermostat.
This is all so that the warm-up time is closely controlled and as short as possible to reduce emissions.
AFAIK, there is no way to "bypass" it without screwing up the emissions control system.
FloydR