E46 Fanatics Forum banner

Where Should the Temperature Gauge be at?

3K views 9 replies 7 participants last post by  Ratty 
#1 ·
It seems like the temperature gauge on my car is a lil pass the halfway mark. To me I think that doesn't look right. My engine is running too hot. What could be the problem? The coolant or water pump?
 
#3 ·
yeah, if it's going over half, then you're overheating. We have buffered gauges that wont change at all until something's absolutely going wrong, or after something's gone wrong, usually. When the pump went out on me, the pulley got really cocked and made loud noises, it probably doesn't have to do that to go out though. The thermostat could be stuck. Or you might have a leak out of the plastic-housed thermostat or the often replaced expansion tank. Mine blew up though, i'm not sure how common it is to have a slow leak from it.
 
#4 ·
my temp guage sometimes randomly goes up and down from normal half way back down to like 1/2 of the normal... even when my car seems to be heated up. its really weird. Not to thread jack but does anyone know what this is?
 
#5 ·
I changed the thermostat recently and expansion tank b/c it had a crack in it. The gauge is only a little bit past halfway, not much at all. Not sure if that means anything. Also, the tech that changed my expasion tank put in reg coolant instead of BMW coolant. Would that cause the problem?
 
#6 ·
No, same thing happened when I put a new thermostat in, and I use OEM coolant. I figured it had something to do with a change in the position of the metal on the sensor.
 
#9 ·
Yesterday I changed the both upper and lower radiator hoses, thermostat, expansion tank, and poured new BMW coolant. The temp gauge used to read at exactly 12 o'clock, now it's about 1mm to the right of 12 o'clock (I suppose more like 12:30 now). I've read many posts and find that this is normal and that the needle may not indicate the exact temperature after replacement. For example (and I have NO idea what temperature is normal), the middle might have been 100 degrees before at 12 o'clock and now that it's at around 12:30 it might actually be still 100 degrees. I wouldn't worry about it, just make sure that you bled air out of the system.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top