Team-BHP - Good 'ol Temperature Gauge : Yes or No?

What next, they might remove the coolant itself! Just kidding.

In my Uno, the alternator belt broke twice and the rising temperature was an indicator to hurry things up and reach someplace safely. Interesting thing is, even with rising temperature, it used to give approx 10 mins of driving time prior to reaching the red zone. Similar indicator is present in Linea along with a visual warning. Manula is clear about what to do in case of rising temperatures. Wonder whether the car manufacturers who have chosen to remove the gauge, have removed the relevant entry from manual as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO (Post 1731852)

Most modern cars now come with only a single warning lamp.

And people are making fun of the nano for having only three wheel nuts!

BTW my Alto has a temperature gauge, but I understand that in the event of complete coolant loss, it will not work! Now of what use is that?

@Gansan: This is news to me about the temp gauge not working in the event of complete coolant loss. I was under the assumption that the temp gauge would indicate the engine temperature irrespective of whether there is coolant or not.

Btw, you are just one post away from becoming a Senior TBHPian. Congrats !:D

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO (Post 1792960)

Most newer cars have a "high temperature warning light". This is independent, and over and above, the check engine light.

Glad to hear that you prevented your engine from getting fried though :)

The thing about the analog meter is that one can take precaution as soon as you notice the needle rise above the half way mark.

I am not quite sure at what point does the high temperature warning light comes on.

^^ Absolutely. Basically, what we are all agreeing upon is, we'd like a progressive meter that shows the exact temperature & fluctuations (allowing the driver to act accordingly), rather than a simple warning light that blinks only when the engine is in the red zone.

I once had an LPG gas kit installed on my Ikon 1.6 (a colossal mistake, as I later found out, and one founded on some exceptionally terrible advice). The first time I took her out onto the highway was on a 100-km trip from Kochi to Haripad ... petrol tank empty, wallet empty, car full, gas tank full ... about a third into the trip, a loud bang came from under the hood, and the game was on!

Since filling petrol was out of the question, all I had from that point on was the temperature gauge. I learned quickly that, once the needle rose, the bang would sound, and I started pacing the car to the mood swings of the needle.

I took 1.5 times the normal driving time, but that needle took me home...

Heck, I can spend 5L on a car, how much will a gauge cost extra? At the least, the discerning customer ought to be presented with the option of being able to pay for it if he deems it necessary!

What say folks? :cool:

A nephew of mine recently upgraded to a new Ritz ZXi from M800 and brought the car home to show me. Had a wonderful TD and the car was very very lively and a breeze to drive. But guess what? I could not find the temperature gauge! When I questioned my nephew sitting in the front passenger seat he was stumped too and could not answer me! I feel somewhat uneasy to drive a car without a temperature gauge.

absolutely essential.

way back in some thread right here on team-bhp, i had mentioned Honda was cheap in doing away with the temp. gauge. I was the recipient of some some criticism for calling Honda cheap in that thread.

glad to see many fellow members still value the temp. gauge.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gansan (Post 1793456)

@ rr_zen

BTW my Alto has a temperature gauge, but I understand that in the event of complete coolant loss, it will not work! Now of what use is that?

It works. Once the coolant started leaking in my Alto (there was dripping on the underside of the air contditioner) and within some time the coolant tank was empty. The temperature needle started going up and engine performance sank.

Luckily had a 1 litre bottle of water ...filled it into the coolant tank, idled the engine for 10 mins (so that water gets taken into the radiator) and then drove off to the nearest MASS.

After 10 mins of idling the temperature needle came back to normal - helped take a informed decision. Else I would have had to call a pickup van :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by p'arth (Post 1967733)

@P'rath: I'm afraid Gansan is correct in his statement,

you were experiencing coolant loss, that means there still was coolant left in your system and your gauge was showing the temperature of whatever was left in the system. Gansan was talking about a situation where there is no coolant at all. the gauge shows the temperature of the coolant, if there is no coolant at all its got no story to tell you.

i hope i am correct if not any team bhpians feel free to shed your knowledge.

cheers
Saud.

Well, my dad owns a Tata Indica DLS 2002 and just this summer while I was driving it at home in Bangalore - the temp gauge went into the red (redlining my drive!). We later found that the fan motor had packed up. Wonder what would have happened had I not had the temp gauge?

I faced a problem with my ford escort (sold in 2007) where the engine was over heating and I used to stop the car after looking at the gauge showing HOT,
Later got the water pump replaced and the issue was resolved,so if there was no gauge it might have led to major problems.