Coolant Temperature

I just got done with a bunch of maintenance:
Timing Belt
Thermostat
Water Pump
Coolant drain/flush/refill
Crankshaft Sensor
Brakes/Rotors

I took the car for a nice long drive to make sure there were no issues...there were a few. I'll post one here and create another thread for the other.

The heater blows NICE, hot air! I pulled into a parking lot to make a few phone calls and watched the temp gauge drop from 190 to 135 (confirmed on my autoscanner +).

What temperature should my car be operating ay and what do I need to do to get it there?

-Chris

Coolant should sit at 95*C or 180*F despite vehicle movement. If it's dropping as you say then I would assume you put in a parts store thermostat and possibly one rated at lower temperature.
Verify the temperature rating on it and it's highly recommended only to use OEM or equivalent quality parts.
Air in the line could be the issue also
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If it is cold out, it is not uncommon for the diesel engine to DROP in temp once coming to a stand still. They do not make much waste heat at idle, especially if the heater is on. They need to be under load (meaning, driving). That is pretty normal. But it should not be a whole bunch on a stock car.

Some thermostats seem to work better than others. My one ALH with an intact and functioning EGR cooler will get up to temp quicker and stay there for short periods of idle time (like long stop lights, etc.) no problem. But even then, the EGR duty cycles OFF after a couple minutes of idle, so the added heat transfer of the exhaust heat into the coolant goes away.

My EGR-less ALH, even with a hotter thermostat, takes longer to get to temp, and will drop off right away at idle speed. Not enough to lose comfortable cabin heat, but for sure noticeable.

My BHW will barely waver at all once at temp, and it gets to temp faster. It also consumes much more fuel.

This is the price of hyper fuel efficiency, and why many diesels have some form of supplemental cabin heat devices, be they electric or fuel fired. As well as winter fronts.

So long as the cabin heat is comfortable, the ECU is happy and not setting any coolant temp related DTCs, you *should* be fine. I have not mapped the CTS values on my cars as of late, but chances are yours is not abnormal but obviously the ambient temps will have some effect on this.

Thank You,

I ordered my kit through Dieselgeek. I'm assuming they would have included a good quality thermostat-
It isn't incredibly cold today, mid to low 30s. It is pretty windy.
I'll keep the meter on it while I'm driving to see what happens.

Disregard, I did NOT get it from dieselgeek, it was from Advanced Auto.

I'll keep an eye on it. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't hurting anything or would have problems down the road.

The best recommendation is to block part of the radiator with waxed cardboard in those temperatures. This will help keep it at temperature. Diesel Geek definitely should give a better quality part, question in my mind still rests on temperature rating.
Either way winter temperatures desire less air flow through the radiator and that can help tremendously.

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