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real gauges or glorified idiot lights?

i have a tech question for those of you who know more about your subaru than i do. i have a '99 legacy gt and this summer has been very hot where i live, so i've been trying to pay attention the the temperature gauge more. what i've noticed is that once the car warms up, the needle is always in the same place (just a little below 1/2 way up). it doesn't matter if it's below 0 or over 100 degrees outside. it also doesn't matter whether or not i'm stuck in traffic or driving 80 down the interstate. this seems a little wierd to me, i don't think any cooling system in the world would keep the engine (water) temperature that constant. as a contrast, my saab gauge fluctuates between 1/3 and 2/3 depending on ambient temperature and driving speed.

so my question is, is the temperature gauge just a gloified idiot light in the subaru with only 3 or so positions (cold, normal, hot). i found out that the transmission temperature gauge in the ford trucks is that way, and you can special order a real temperature gauge for them. i think it'd be nice to see if the engine is starting to get hot so that you can turn it off/drive it easier before things go bad.

thanks! mike

Reply to
Mike Deskevich
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My 2000 Lagacy has a temp gauge which also sits rock solid just below half way. But I actually got it to move once. I was able to exceed the thermal capacity of the cooling system once and saw the temp gauge in action. I was driving 60mph up a 5 mile long steep grade with me and 4 other passengers, AC on and ouside temperature of 102 deg F. About half was up the grade the temp gauge started on it's way up. By the time I reached the summit it was almost at the red line. I was ready to kill the AC and back off on the throttle but as soon as I crested it dropped right back down to normal. I haven't stressed the car that much since then and the gauge has been rock solid at just below half ever since.

Jeff

Reply to
Jeff

On Thu, 14 Aug 2003 22:39:56 GMT, snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (Mike Deskevich) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com:

Yes. From what I've been told, the coolant temp gauge in most cars is setup to read virtually the same position for the normal range of values and only when below or above those would you notice. Obviously, for most of us, that works fairly well.

The reason why is likely the same reason Mazda changed the oil pressure gauge in the Miata to be the equivalent of an idiot light: Too many customers wanted to know why it kept moving up and down. Even though there was nothing wrong, the average driver doesn't really know much about oil pressure or engine temperature in terms of what is good and what is bad.

Reply to
Dave Null Sr.

Too true! I'm dating myself, again, but what the heck it all goes to verify your statement.

In 1962 I bought a new Chev Impala SS, bucket seats, posi, 4 speed with a 327 cid engine with a Rochester 4-throat carb HD suspension. By the standards of those days, it was really HOT! GM had decided to replace the gauges with idiot lites for engine temp and oil pressure. The dash was virtually the same as the '61 Impala that had gauges.

Things were going fairly well, I'd installed Michelins, and car was like on rails, for the '60's. We took off very early one morn on a vacation to Jellystone (from LA) and I noticed the engine temp was going sky high. To make a long 4 day story short, GM told me "that's the way it's designed." I got hold of a zone office rep for SoCal and he told me confidentially it was to sell cars. Your engine will go out in about 35K miles and you'll trade the car in for a new '64.

I had already noticed I was getting about 500 miles/qt on oil and it had been coming down over the last 6 months. Screw you GM, I bought a '62 Porsche and have never looked back. I can't afford them now and I really enjoy everything about Subaru and the Outback and Baja. Wish I'd waited and gotten a '04 with the turbo, but without HD suspension the turbo is waisted.

Don

Reply to
Don Nickell

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