Temperature Gauge

[davidw]

I have just bought a 93 Cabriolet and in my wisdom replaced coolant, temp instrument sender and thermostat. Car runs fine and does not use water etc. One thing that does concern me is the sensitivity of Temperature Gauge. On the open road the temp reads in the middle of gauge but as soon as I get in traffic and the air flow is reduced it promptly moves from centre of gauge to half way to first marking on right. I presume at this point the fan cuts in and prevents it going all way to extreme zone on the right. I am fairly confident that there is no mechanical issue but I have not had a car were the temperature gauge fluctuates so much. Is this normal, any comments?

[gldgti]

this is a bit of a curly one,

most people tend to agree that half way up the gauge is the "normal" point, and this tends to be fairly consistent throughout most mk1's. usually, you're fan will cut in before half way up the gauge, and you oughtn'e see the guage go much if any above half way up in traffic.

my dad has had his gauge on his 79 GLD running "hot" for a long time, but he caused it to run this way by putting in a 90-92 degree thermo-switch in the end of the radiator (he does a lot of early morning cold weather commutes and needs to warm up the coolant in order to warm the biodiesel).

if i were you, i'd pop out the thermo-switch and see if you can identify which one it is. im fairly sure you can buy about 3 different ones, that switch at 78, 85 and 92 degrees (approximately).

if you find that you have a 'cool' switch and its still running hot, perhaps there is another issue? - we'll see i guess.

good luck! (and welcome!)

aydan

[Golf Loon]

How wide is the radiator in the Cabriolet? I have seen smaller early rads fitted to those cars, which restricts airflow and overheats em. Even with the correct radiator, the cars with ac tend to run hot as there is no room in the engine bay and so airflow is restricted.