Temperature gauge

JMD

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 9, 2000
Location
Richmond, VT
TDI
GL, 2001, indigo
From the reading I have done in this forum and elsewhere, I know the TDI engine, because of its efficiency, takes quite a while to "warm up." I expected this to be reflected in the temp. gauge, with a slow creep up to whatever is normal operating temp. What I have noticed the first couple of days with my car, however, is that temp indicator settles very quickly right in the middle of the gauge (I think the reading is 190 deg F). Is this normal?

[ July 15, 2001: Message edited by: JMD ]
 

MOGolf

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Jun 27, 2001
Location
underneath something
TDI
2001 Golf GLS TDI Reflex silver, rough road suspension and steel skid plate, 2004 Passat Variant, Candy White, rough road suspension and geared balanced shaft module, and much, much more. 2016 LR RR HSE TD6, 2019 Jaguar I-PACE
In the summer, yes. In cooler temps, it will take a little longer. It also depends on the driving you do. Mine takes about 4-5 miles before it gets up to 190F (most driving is 45-50 with a few stop lights at 1 mile intervals).

When I test drove one back in March, here in Michigan, that test vehicle took about 15 minutes to warm up. Ambient air temp was in the 40s.
 

GoFaster

Moderator at Large
Joined
Jun 16, 1999
Location
Brampton, Ontario, Canada
TDI
2006 Jetta TDI
If you drive it, the warm-up period isn't much different from anything else. If you let it sit idling in the driveway in the middle of winter expecting a warm car when you come out of the house after a coffee, forget it. At -20 C, I've had the temperature gauge go DOWN when I got stuck in traffic! (I coaxed it down to 65 C by cranking the heat up to max with the blower on max ... but that was me trying to see how low I could get it to go. Normally it wouldn't drop that much)

Brian P.
'96 Passat TDI mit UPsolute
 
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