Yaris, Scion xD, Honda Fit - no water temp gauge

If you maintain the vehicle well you should not have any cooling system problems. If a guage is that important to you you can always install an aftermarket gauge later.

Yes, I would.

It's usually an "operator malfunction" for some folks not acting quick enough in response to a caution or warning light that is damaging. I've heard it said many times "I saw the light but I didn't know what it meant". I say to myself, hey, it's only money, why should you care.

If they didn't know what the light meant, I would doubt a gauge would be any more meaningful to them. Sometimes to learn what a light means, they see the results of driving with the low oil pressure light on in a sixty thousand dollar car because the person (woman) did not act, they just kept driving, until it stopped. Very instructional. Hubby was not happy. Like I say, it's only money.

You sound like an aware type of person, so a light instead of a gauge would be fine for you, but you could add an after market gauge if you wanted.

I've been driving a Corolla when I'm not in a truck since '03 and IMHO they are great cars, no problems.

None of them have oil pressure gauges either, or what a few years ago would have been considered normal instrumentation. You MAY be able to ask the dealer for a "gauge package" but the number of cars available with real gauges is slim.

I wouldn't. But what is even WORSE are the fake gauges which you see on an increasing number of cars. They look like real gauges, but they only register three different levels. Apparently having gauges that move around too much is "confusing" for the driver.

That depends. The basic idea is that they're supposed to come on well before the point of damage. But there's really only one way to find out.

You can always install aftermarket gauges. And not that although I wouldn't buy a car without gauges, I'm also a luddite who wouldn't buy most any car made today.

--scott

...

*snip*

I'll trade you the temp gauge for your tachometer! 2000 Echoes didn't have them.

Natalie

I don't believe that is true. The coolant does not have to boil for the light to come on. The temp sensor only senses the temperature of the water, it has no way to determine if it is boiling or not. What may happen with a sudden leak is the coolant level will drop low enough that the temp sensor is no longer immersed in coolant. Being the sensor is no longer in contact with the coolant it will not turn the light on until it is too late.

I know. I prefer gauges myself but the are getting harder to find.

How is such an aftermarket temp gauge installed - under the hood, and how is it mounted on the dashboard/instrument panel? How much does it cost?

My 5 speed 2000 Civic has/had/offered no tach not even as an option (thank goodness it DOES have a temp gauge) - it would have been such a pain to install an after market (tach) I learned to do without.

"Mike" wrote in news:wovJj.1203$ snipped-for-privacy@news02.roc.ny:

An "idiot" light uses a sensor that is just a switch that flips once the design temp is exceeded. But a true temperature gauge uses a sensor that MEASURES the temp,and the gauge gives warning BEFORE the temp goes "over the top". A gauge gives you more info,and sooner. A stuck thermostat may cause your engine tempo to cycle from 'cold' to 'hot'(affecting mileage) but an idiot light will not show that unless 'hot' exceeds the sensor limit.But a gauge will show that variation,and will show an engine running hotter than usual but within tolerance,showing something has changed[a problem!],that an idiot light will ignore. (until it's too late...)

Every car should have a temp gauge,not an idiot light.

Sure.

But if it really bothers you, it's easy to get devices that plug into the OBD-II port and give you more information about your car than you ever want to know. For example:

"Elmo P. Shagnasty"...

I agree with Elmo on this. Tomes

Yes. On many of the cars that have gauges now the gauge is nothing more than an idiot light with a needle. The gauge is either cold, normal or hot. Same with oil pressure... It's either 0 or normal. I was told manufacturers started doing this because people would bring a car back in for warranty repair when the gauge reading was still "normal" but not exactly like it always was.

They aren't as good as a gauge, but really who has cooling system problems anymore? The last time I had a car overheat it was because a hose blew out and in that case neither the gauge nor the idiot light detected it in time to avoid damage. Since neither was in water anymore they didn't detect the rising temp until waayyy to late.

I wouldn't upgrade just for that feature. Replace all the hoses every five years and don't worry about it.

If there is no pressure e.g. because of a loose cap the coolant can slowly boil away without the idiot light coming on. The same is true if you use only water with no antifreeze. The boiling point of water at sea level pressure is 212 degF. With 50% antifreeze and a high pressure radiator cap the boiling point will be about 270 degF. An idiot light might not come on until 240 degF. You are correct about the light not coming on if the coolant is low. I have seen engines that became so hot that the the head gasket blows and the driver swears that the idiot light never came on.

depends if you stop when it first comes on or not.

truth is, water gauges are an historic anachronism. if you look at the typical car's temp gauge, they don't have a linear response, it's a step function. that means that when it's in the "normal" zone, there can be considerable temperature variation and you'll never see any difference in indicator position.

given that it's not really any interest when the coolant is cold, and there is no visible variability under normal operating conditions, that only leaves the "too hot" zone to be of any real interest - and there's no reason it can't be served by an indicator light. in fact, it may be a good deal more useful than a honda where if you don't happen to look down at the gauge to catch a problem in time, you can easily cook an engine. most people notice right away when a light comes on.

Yes, I would. I've had many vehicles with real gauges and a few of them overheated and I never noticed the gauge go up because it happened so fast (blown hose). I might have noticed an idiot light. I'd like to have both in an ideal setup. It's nice to know what's happening with water temp on a long uphill, esp if you are towing something. My 99 Mustang GT has a temp, oil and volt gauge but all are just idiot gauges. At least on the mustang you can put the Dashboard odometer into "diagnostic mode" and it will give a true digital readout of water temp. I think most idiot lights for water temp are set to go on at about 235 degrees. If everything is good in the cooling system it should not boil till it hits 260 degrees.

I agree, I think the ideal setup would be gauges with an idiot light right inside the gauge. Unfortunately if you want something like that you have to do it yourself.

nate

Nate Nagel wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news3.newsguy.com:

Many gas gauges do that;when you get down too far,the warning light comes on.

With today's modern LCD dashes,such a thing ought to be easy to implement.Have a bright LED behind the hi segments that would light when those segments are activated.

Now that I think about it I think my Porsche works like that, but I've never seen the warning lights even bulb check. My fluke says everything is working fine, so I don't know what gives.

nate

Even with a proper temperature gauge, you need to consider whether the gauge is in a visible place on the dashboard. First prize for "Most Stupid Position for Temperature Gauge" has to go to the Renault 14 (probably early

1980s vintage) which placed the gauge low-down on the central console, behind the gear lever. Not a place that you will frequently check it as you look at the everyday gauges like speedometer and fuel, and warning lights such as ignition, oil pressure and handbrake.

Many years ago my sister was driving my mother's Renault 14 shortly after she learned to drive and wrote off the engine because a radiator hose burst and the only warning that the engine was overheating was this insignificant gauge on an obscure part of the dashboard.