What does everyone's temp gauges normally sit at?

I've got 2 1994's

One sits around the 1/3 mark, and after running, for any amount of time, I can open it and touch anything in the engine bay, it's still fairly cool,
My 94 TI sits around the half way mark...if its a colder day, it sits just below, and if I drive it a little hard, it sits just about the half way mark (about half a bar), after running for as little as 60 seconds, its too hot to touch, and I have a slight burning smell (doesnt smell like oil....just an odd burning smell)

Fluids are all good (more parts water than coolant)
Had some minor leaks (oil leaks, coolant hoses) which I've attended to,
but I still get that smell and its still very hot....I don't trust the thing, as much as people, and searching, informs me that i shouldnt worry unless if fluctuates. I'll do an oil change and radiator flush tomorrow, but can't think of anything else.

Anyone else get a weird burning smell, and different temperatures between different vehicles of the same setup?

 

can't answer the rest of your Q's, but mine sits just above 1/2, about parallel with the ground (give or take)

 

IMO its going to be very car specific ................. especially once non-std (read what Nissan didn't use) radiators/sensors/waterpumps/thermostats/etc gets swapped into a vehicle as required during maintenance.

In general, I have found the original radiator/pump/thermostat combo to be able to control the engine temp very well (as reported by the gauge) - ie - the radiator capacity is such that even with the aircon running on an autobox'ed vehicle and the ambient temp fluctuates between 6C and 32C, the temp gauge quickly (2Km) gets to a "normal" position and is effectively glued there no matter what ................... Colder that 6C we usually never see so the thermostat's reaction time and accuracy, I presume is going to rather critical there

With my needle pointing at the normal top of the "P" in the word "TEMP" on the gauge, I know I can measure 86C on the engine temp sensor housing with an infrared, non-contact temp meter (+-5%?)

If you are bothered by the smell/indication and suspect foul-play, I would suggest getting a temp meter and actually measuring the sensor housing temp.

 

Mine also sits fairly rock solid on half way, even climbing a mountain with AC on, on a 35degC day, still sits on half. Although, since I have had the radiator cleaned and flushed, it seems to take a little longer to reach half. Perhaps you other car has had a lower temp thermostat installed??
Certainly check out the burning smell. Oil is a common cause as it is easily spilt on the exhaust during a oil change or leaks from the rocker cover gaskets. But you said it doesn't smell like oil?? What about coolant, if coolant has leaked on the engine and isn't cleaned off properly, it can smell when the engine is hot, but it should be an obvious coolant smell.

 

where do you notice the smell, ie: cabin, under the hood, to the air box side or the power steering.

if your temp is fluxuating i dont think it has anything to do with after market parts as to i have installed many different aftermarket cooling parts of many cars with no noticable (car temp gauge) diferences. i think that it is more likely that you have clogs or bubbles in the system and that the smell could be one of the various small hoses on our engines that get brittle and crack.

flush the system with prestone flush, i have sworn by the stuff for years, then top the engine off on a good incline to get rid of any bubbles.

 

maybe you have a weak thermostat? or some where in your cooling system you have an issue...maybe a flush and new thermostat would help

 

its either u have cooling system problem coolant not going through water jackets properly or thermostat not opening and its stuck closed or not opening at the right time.....and dude too much water in the coolant is not gud, it should be 50/50 cuz proper mixture of water and antifreez reduces the amount of rust and lime deposits in the system...cuz these deposits tend to insulate the walls of water jackets from the coolant and in result the coolant is less able to absorb the engine's heat at points where there is scale and this causes engine hot spots that increases the component wear and make overheating more likely.....these r the lil things we need to watch out and can save our engines...

 

The smell is under the hood. It might be coolant.
I'm gonna run some of that flush crap through my system (both oil and radiator (yes, I bought different stuff for both)) and then change the oil and flush the radiator and see how that goes. I'll also check for any more oil leaks since cleaning the engine and re-check all the hoses.

Thanks for the advice fella's

 

Generally 50/50 mix is only required in areas were it goes below freezing, otherwise it is generally a 30/70 mix

 

How much do you drive this car? has it been sitting for a long time and you're just getting back to driving it?

If the car has sat for a long time, they will often run pretty/really hot the first few hundred miles until they wear down the tiny rust particles and whatnot that have accumulated on the cylinder walls.

you'll probably also notice greater fuel consumption as well until it gets re-broken-in.


Now... If the car is a daily driver, then I'd suspect you have a stuck thermostat or a clogged radiator. I'd start with a radiator removal and cleaning, and it wouldn't hurt to throw a new thermostat on there. It's about a 1 hour job to replace the t-stat and is relatively cheap. For the price of antifreeze these days, I'd hate to waste a gallon of it refilling the car only to find out the t-stat is stuck and you have to dump it anyway.

 

50/50 is the recommended minimum coolant to water mix.
70/30 is only used in cases of extreme cold (70% coolant, 30% water)

 

He meant 30% coolant, 70% water.
I've used that for years down here in Houston cause it never freezes and never gets over about 95.
(Water is a better coolant than AF anyway. AF is used to lower the freezing point, NOT raise the boiling point.)

 

a little chart courtesy of Peak:

 

Yes, that is what I meant. I have heard stories of uneducated people using 100% antifreeze in their radiator and overheating their engine.
I have only ever used 30% AF. You can also purchase straight anti-corrosion additive for areas that don't require freeze/boil protection, and you only use about 500ml, so about a 5/95 mix.

 

Yaay. My car's good down to 4F.. 30 deg below how cold it ever gets around here.

 

heat is removed from the engine by the antifreeze/coolant and is released by the water in the mixture this is why 50/50 is recommended....for example 67% AF and 33% water will raise the boiling point of the mixture to 235F and will lower the freezing point to -92F......( water alone has a boiling point of 212F and a freezing point of 32F at sea level)

 

Actually, the water does a majority of the work (drawing the heat from the engine, and releasing it to the cooler radiator), the antifreeze just raises the boiling point and lowers the freezing point of the water, and is comparatively poor at actually transferring heat.

 

What he said.
antifreeze is a poor coolant. it is a good antifreeze. (Notice I didn't say antifreeze didn't raise the boiling point- I said it wasn't used specifically TO raise the boiling point.)

Your engine should NEVER get hot enough that it needs the higher boiling point anyway- if it's above 220F, you've got engine problems already.

 

What he and he said.

 

Very true, the raised boiling point just happens to be a side effect that marketing has latched on to!