TDI not warming up to 80 degrees C

[rjsummer]

This may be a dumb question, but the ambient temp right now is minus 2 (-2 C) and my car is not warming up to 80 degrees according to Vag com.
My coolant gauge reads right on 90 as always, but vag com says about 76 degrees. I noticed this when trying to check the timing, and it says not hot enough. I took the car for a half hour drive on the highway, tried it around the city, loading it and other times driving hard. The temp in vag com never gets higher than 77.

Is this a problem? Should I be running it hotter?
If so, how, what could be causing it to run cool?

 

[2004STARWARSTDI]

Temp

Block off air flow to the radiator, see if temp rises then. Could also be a faulty CTS. Put thermnometer in coolant bottle & read temp. When you take of top to coolant bottle is coolant moving?

 

[yatzee]

my coolant has been running between 76 and 80 for the entire winter (when warm). It has peaked at 90c when towing. I wouldn't be concerned.

The gauge in the cluster is an 'idioit' gauge and can't be trusted 100%.....

 

[rjsummer]

Thanks to both of you, for the reassurance. And I'll check the sensor with my multimeter.

 

[jettawreck]

At what ambient temps are you getting 76/80C? That's not bad if its anywhere thats got "winter" temps. Anyways, try turning OFF your heater/blower fan as well as blocking radiator airflow as suggested if you really need to get it up around 90C while doing the warmup drive. If its still really "cold" where you live, well, good luck. Mine rarely sees close to 90C even in our "summer".

 

[rjsummer]

I live in Ontario, and the ambient temp is about 4 degrees C.
Sounds like its normal to get just below 80. Just seems dumb the inst. gauge is not accurate.

 

[jettawreck]

I live in Ontario, and the ambient temp is about 4 degrees C.
Sounds like its normal to get just below 80. Just seems dumb the inst. gauge is not accurate.

Per the Scan Gauge my "normal" max temp before the thermostat appears to open is 181F.
The idiot dash gauge reads/reaches 190 when the actual engine coolant gets to about 162 and above. The gauge remains rock steady there while coolant temps can vary from 165ish to 191, which is as high as I have ever gotten.
At ambient temps below freezing I usually never get to 180 with the blower fan on higher than "2". In the real cold, blower fan setting will dictate my coolant temp to a large degree.
The dash gauge is just kind of a reference point-in my opinion they should not have put degree numbers on it. When it starts to go past the middle, (never seen it on mine) you're getting warmer than it normally should be.