TeamSwift

I figure this is the best place to post this question.

Has anyone else ever plumbed in an actual set of working Temp and oil pressure guages?

If so, what kind of temps for the coolant did you see?

The reason I ask, I did install working guages on my recent G10 rebuild. The car runs great, the old in dash temp guage usually stays just a hair above the first notch, worst case maybe to half guage. BUT, my working temp guage, with sensor installed into the cylinder head adjacent to the distriutor, shows temps to be 190-195 at avg idle. But extended idle or city driving going up to about 210 before the fan kicks on often going as high as near 220. When the fan comes on it quickly will drop itself back to around 190, but then once again climb. Using a laser temp checker, it confirmed these temps on the guage to be very near to accurate

Entire everything in the cooling loop is new (pump,thermostat,temp sensor for guage) with exception of the radiator. However, radiator was cehmically boiled while off, as well as shows great visual flow when the cap is open, and the fact that the temp drops very quickly when the fan kicks on tells me the radiator is obviously flowing very well.

As very few have probably never installed an actual working guage I have to ask myself if these temps are maybe not just normal operating temps. Worst case I am thinking my fan sensor is just old and kicking in a bit late.

Any feedback appreciated.

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Mike
Valley Grande, AL
1986 Sprint plus

Do you maintain a personal fleet like I do?
Why do we do it?
Because it's what we enjoy and because we CAN.
2011 camaro, 2005 Vibe, 2016 Outback, 06 Expedition, 87 Porsche 911, 87 Turbo sprint, 82 Brat, 73 gmc 4x4, 69 camaro, 99 Gl1500 Honda Goldwing, 12 Kawasaki klr650, 2012 Kubota L3200, and we wont even go into the small stuff.

I have installed several aftermaket coolant temp guages and what you describe is rather normal.
The oem thermostat (or at least the ones sold in Canada) opens @ 180f and the fan kicks in at around 200f. The oem coolant temp gauges are crap in my opinion. They have issues with grounding and they have no graduation.
What I found interesting is how hot the engine oil gets. I installed a pan temp sensor and oil pressure gauge and wow. The oil gets as hot as 225f and the resulting pressure drop is worth furling your brow over... That's why I'm installing a thermostatically controlled oil cooler on my next build.

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95% of the canadian population say "Oh shit!" before hitting the ditch.
The other 5% are good 'ol Alberta boys saying "Hear, hold my beer... NOW WATCH THIS!!!".


May not always be pretty, but Rednecks Git'R'Done Good!

_________________
Mike
Valley Grande, AL
1986 Sprint plus

Do you maintain a personal fleet like I do?
Why do we do it?
Because it's what we enjoy and because we CAN.
2011 camaro, 2005 Vibe, 2016 Outback, 06 Expedition, 87 Porsche 911, 87 Turbo sprint, 82 Brat, 73 gmc 4x4, 69 camaro, 99 Gl1500 Honda Goldwing, 12 Kawasaki klr650, 2012 Kubota L3200, and we wont even go into the small stuff.

A big thanks to all for stating such detailed info on it. I was totally unaware of it. I really didn't know much about d temperature ranges. This posting has been a helpful guide for me. I believe d temp mentioned is right for d environment.

I also wanted to thank for that info. I thought my car was overheating and that scared me everytime I used my a/c and was stuck on traffic.

Some pics by the way, just to brigthen the mood of the thread. My mod is based on the fact that here we don't use or have the heater option on the Swift, but the hose that goes from the intake to the lower hose piping of the radiator is still there. So, why not plug a temperature probe there, as you can see, poor man's option, and yes, that's gas piping I used.

And yes, for the automatic you kinda have to modify the stock rad a little (quite more like a right handed modification)

And before all that, pretty close to the fender is the tranny cooler. Bypassing the radiator of course.

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Suzuki Swift GLX - 1.6L - SOCH 16 valves - Carb Model
Mods: Auto Tranny Cooler
Weber 32/36 kit from Toyota Tercel
2 row aluminiun radiator