Thread: Temp Gauge Red Light came on!!

Originally Posted by Dan C

Don't be too hard on the young fella! I discovered from bitter experience that the temp gauge on the TD5 has only 3 positions- cold, operating temperature and 'oops, too late'. There is no gradation between them.
Overheated mine 3 times due to slow coolant leak, with gauge not showing overheat until well past the warning stage. Result - head gasket job. My theory is that once it looses water, the temp sensor is not sitting in water, so only senses steam, which will be just over 100C.
Lesson learnt, and bought an "Engine Guard' that shows exactly your engine (metal) temperature, with a warning buzzer that you can set to any temp.
Dan

This isn’t reserved only to TD5s.
Almost all modern vehicles run the same set up of normalising the gauge.

And gauges don’t read steam - it’s the last boiling fluid going past the sensor that finally triggers it.

If you don’t lose coolant, but overheat - eg. blocked radiator - then the system handles it really well by cutting cylinders to cool itself down - but it needs coolant to reference this.

Originally Posted by Dan C

Don't be too hard on the young fella! I discovered from bitter experience that the temp gauge on the TD5 has only 3 positions- cold, operating temperature and 'oops, too late'. There is no gradation between them.
Overheated mine 3 times due to slow coolant leak, with gauge not showing overheat until well past the warning stage. Result - head gasket job. My theory is that once it looses water, the temp sensor is not sitting in water, so only senses steam, which will be just over 100C.
Lesson learnt, and bought an "Engine Guard' that shows exactly your engine (metal) temperature, with a warning buzzer that you can set to any temp.
Dan

I wasn't hard on him at all. He got his license 10 days earlier. I had planned to drive to Adelaide, so I've told him he saved me from breaking down between Ararat and Horsham!
As for kicking his arse for not watching the gauge, we all know it goes from good to "oh ****" in a nano second. I think his quick pulling over and turning the engine off has saved it. Since Tuesday morning, no loss of coolant, no water in oil, temps as they should be. I think we dodged a bullet.
Why do cars have this good to destroyed in a nanosecond? Why not have the gauge/alarm go at 110C? or 105C?
I know that the car manufacturers want to have a steady gauge ti calm the driver, so programme it to go to normal at 75C stay there until 105C and then rise as temp rises. maybe have the red light flash at 105C.

Originally Posted by Bohica

I wasn't hard on him at all. He got his license 10 days earlier. I had planned to drive to Adelaide, so I've told him he saved me from breaking down between Ararat and Horsham!
As for kicking his arse for not watching the gauge, we all know it goes from good to "oh ****" in a nano second. I think his quick pulling over and turning the engine off has saved it. Since Tuesday morning, no loss of coolant, no water in oil, temps as they should be. I think we dodged a bullet.
Why do cars have this good to destroyed in a nanosecond? Why not have the gauge/alarm go at 110C? or 105C?
I know that the car manufacturers want to have a steady gauge ti calm the driver, so programme it to go to normal at 75C stay there until 105C and then rise as temp rises. maybe have the red light flash at 105C.

It does. It works perfectly.

Every overheat failure where it does Damage is from **low coolant**. Temp gauges don’t do squat without coolant immersion.

If it had got hot without fluid loss it would have protected itself just fine.

Originally Posted by Tombie

It does. It works perfectly.

Every overheat failure where it does Damage is from **low coolant**. Temp gauges don’t do squat without coolant immersion.

If it had got hot without fluid loss it would have protected itself just fine.

How does it protect itself? Does the engine go into limp mode?

Originally Posted by Bohica

How does it protect itself? Does the engine go into limp mode?

Cycling cylinders off to become an air pump.
The air only charge quickly gets the temperature under control.

Engine Saver, Low Coolant Monitor. Which one?

Originally Posted by Bohica

Engine Saver, Low Coolant Monitor. Which one?

A simple level sensor in the overflow bottle will do.

Does the d2a have an electric cooling fan?