Got my rodded radiator, put it in, put 50/50 antifreeze/water, let it run and get to normal temp with heater on per recommendations. Took the car for a drive. My only concern is the temp guage is still reading higher than I think it should. It leaves about 70% to last mark, or about three bars from hot. Any suggestions?
Don
Take it to a radiator shop that has a laser temp gage - they'll tell you what the true temp is. I've gone through a bunch of hoops on one car only to find that the sending unit was bad - it wasn't as hot as the gage said it was.
D> Got my rodded radiator, put it in, put 50/50 antifreeze/water, let it
Could be the gauge, I know on my Hawk I can start it up and let it run, tap on the gauge and the needle will jump to the right and stop with each rap on the glass and peg out all the way to the right. This is with a completely boiled out block and new radiator. Never had the engine overheat once. I've heard several other people state the same problem when I've brought it up.
Lee
We should all invest in
Don,
it depends on the car. In my '55 coupe, the gauge runs at 3/4 when with my laser thermometer it says I'm just a hair under 180 degrees. I believe the gauges were originally calibrated to read at exactly mid scale with a stock thermostat, which for earlier cars was 160 degrees and the latest models 170 degrees. Since 170 degree thermostats are no longer available most people run 180s therefore the gauge may read a little high. For piece of mind try to measure the engine temp. at the top radiator tank or thermostat housing and see where you're at, either with a laser thermometer or a candy thermometer. If it's within a few degrees of the thermostat rating I wouldn't worry about it. You could put a small resistor inline with the sender wire if you want to adjust your gauge to read mid scale.
nate
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