Robert J. Carley wrote:
> I have the opposite problem that most people have with a TR6. My car
> seems to run too cool. With the recent cool weather, the temp. gauge
> needle barely moved above the lowest mark when driving. Putting
cardboard
> in the grill seemed to help a little, but still not much.
Robert, be very careful in "ttrusting" your temperature gauge. It is
pretty common for folk to "adjust" how theor temp. gauge reads by placing
a resistor between the sender and the gauge. By changing the resistance,
you can make your gauge appear to run high or low.
Until you have your gauge calibrated, the poor mans way of doing this is
to watch your gauge very carefully as it warms up. When your thermostat
starts to open (at 180 F in your case), the needle will stop moving,
and you will feel warm water flowing past the thermostat. This point on
your gauge is then 180 F, and is (I think) nearly the optimal temperature
that your engine should run at, though temperatures up to 220 should
be fine.
Another trick is to use a meat thermometer and immerse it in the
radiator and watch it as the engine warms. If you do this, dont
switch off the engine with out the radiator cap or else the hot water
will go everywhere!
A lot of people can get fooled by this, and in fact can harm their engine
by attempting to make their engine run warmer, or become obsessive about
making it run cooler.
Shane Ingate in San Diego
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