Hello,

In my other cars I have noticed while driving the temp gauge will be at the 12 o'clock position since the gauge is horizontal i.e. L to R going from Cold to Hot.

In the maxima the gauge is Vertical i.e. Bottom to Top going Cold to Hot.

What I had noticed is in maxima (2001 GLE 157K) the temperature guage will always be little below the half mark. Here is a picture of how it appears.



A friend of mine recently had an issue in his 3 series where his temp gauge continued to stay to the left of the center line. He found out y'day that it was his thermostat. This evening we were going to pick up his car and he sees my temp gauge. It always has been at the position as in the picture since I bought it. He suggested that I had thermostat issues too.

Can you comment on where your temp gauge rests when you drive after the engine has warmed up? and should I be concerned about this?

Thanks.

 

http://forums.maxima.org/showpost.ph...9&postcount=11

 

Thanks NmexMax.

However, that doesnt seem to answer my question

In that post you are saying it should stay in the middle and from the pic above u see the gauge is not exactly in the middle.

I guess my re-phrased question is: looking at the picture, if the gauge is always at that position once the engine has warmed up is that ok? or does it need to be looked at?

Thanks again.

 

Give or take a couple of millimeters, you're making a big deal out of not so much. The 02/03 is about 1/3 of the way up, but if you looks closely, it's in the middle with respect to the gauge resolution. Th 95-99 is always a few hairs below center point, either way, it will be at the same place unless the temperature fluctuates more or less than the values I gave.

 

Thanks again sir!!

I was just concerned... Cleared up now.

 

Mine sits squarely on the 3rd mark from the bottom of the gauge once it is fully warmed up.

 

Which is when the coolant reaches about 160*F and the ECU goes into open loop.

 

actually you can see a little dot on the temp gauge where the needle should be normally.

 

...and gas mileage gets better, especially when it is cold.

 

As long as the coolant is up at that temperature, the ECU will maintain very close to 14.7:1 AFR, so yes, you’re correct in that it will take longer to reach that coolant temp with respect to the ambient temp.

Is that what you meant?

 

really? my car becomes slugish, maybe it's maf, I have no CEL light.

 

Sluggish when cold? Does it improve when fully warmed?

 

not really. I think my maf is about to die.

 

do u have a pic of this?

On my 01 I dont have the mentioned dot

Thank you

 

I think while the 02 up maxima's had the different gauges, from what i have seen through the web I have a strong feeling that the position in both 5 and 5.5 gen is the same.

Hopefully I'll get to see some pics showing the same.

The only pics i saw as yet were on u-tube videos

 

Not nitpicking at your words or anything, but do you mean Closed Loop.

 

yea my guage stays a tad bit below half way mark. (the colder side)
iv never seen it go higher than that.... im certain the guage works.... cause when its cold its at the bottom... and slowly climbs up as it warms up... and then stops.


i just assumed the cooling system is pretty nice on these cars..... compared to bmws...

my bmws cooling system sucks *****.. (540i 6sp) as with most BMWs... the radiator cracked spewing coolant everywhere... the thermostat failed... etc etc.. they are made with a cheap plastic material... and its all over bimmerforums.com

 

Yeah. Checking mileage on the trip computer when the engine is still cold shows 2-4 mpg less than when it is fully warmed up. That is pretty normal but I've also noticed my car is pretty cold blooded, takes a good 8-10 miles of driving to fully warm up when it is in the low 40s or colder. Doubt it is a thermostat problem because once the engine is warmed up, the temperature level is the same whether it is cold or warm.

To the thread starter, it is typical for a temperature gauge to read a bit less than half at normal operating temperatures, no matter what brand car you have. It is also normal for there to be a pretty big variance allowed in temperature and have the gauge read the same when the car is fully warmed up. If the gauge was sensative enough to show minor temperature variances at normal operating temperatures, people would be bring their cars in all the time claiming something must be wrong since the gauge is constantly moving.

 

 

I was wondering why your friend was comparing a Bimmer's temp gauge to a Maxima's. The European cars IMO go way over board in respect to monitoring the engines fluids and computer diagnostics.

I don't need a series of red, green and yellow lights to tell me when to change the oil or air filter that only the dealership can turn off.

 

Thank you for all the responses.

I did confirm with a co-worker who has a maxima and he sees the same reading.

This thread can rest in peace.