I bought myself one of those OBD2 bluetooth dongles sending data to the mobile-infotainment system.

The coolant temperature reaches 105/106 C, which seems a little too high?

The dash gauge stays on 90 (I know it doesn't move from there) - still I wonder if I should check something?

Coolant level is MAX and thermostat housing/water pump have been done less than 3 months ago.

Sounds perfectly reasonable to me, so long as it maintains that temperature under load, idling in a traffic jam on a hot day etc you have nothing to worry about.

 

Modern petrol engines run at higher cylinder block temperatures for greater efficiency, the reason for the kidology with the temperature guage is that there is still far too much guff given out in an autoritative manner that has not been relevant for over 6 decades, the days before pressurised cooling systems, many people still believe that the engine will boil over at 100°c because that is what they have been told or have read.

 

Do your cooling fans often cut in? In Northern Europe they rarely do, mine havn't in 30 years, in the Australian climate I would expect them to be working from time to time but not to drop the coolant temp below the figure you have recorded.

8 minutes ago, J.R. said:

many people still believe that the engine will boil over at 100°c because that is what they have been told or have read.

THIS! 😁

 

Summer has indeed arrived and we now have 25+ in Melbourne daily, so hot weather is definitely one factor. I was indeed driving in the city,lots of traffic lights and never over 50 Km/h (and even for only a few moments). 

It did drop around 90ish after about 20 minutes - I couldn't hear the fan but I guess it was it? Oil temperature also dropped from 107 C to 97/98, I'm not sure if this has to do with the thermostat doing anything.

Your coolant should be hovering around 90 degrees, ideally. It will boil around 130, depending on the pressure of your system, so anything above 110 is an issue. You'll start to have issues around 120, however all of those expensive VW plastics won't like being that hot.

 

Engine oil should be above 90 and, ideally, below 110.

 

There's more load on a long motorway journey, but then again, there's more airflow. I find my vRS sits in the mid 90s on a fast moving road, but can get up to 105 or so in traffic. 

 

I wouldn't pay too much attention to the coolant or oil temp displays - they're well known (like the fuel gauges) to be a bit rubbish. I only really ever look at the engine oil temp - as long as there's enough coolant in the tank (I must check that soon!) then I trust it to do it's own thing. If you see it jumping or giving unrealistic numbers, it may be worth looking at the thermostat. 

@Mr_Brownstone  Is the Antifreeze / summer coolant / Rust Inhibitor,  AKA 'Coolant'  at the correct strength?

8 minutes ago, Ootohere said:

@Mr_Brownstone  Is the Antifreeze / summer coolant / Rust Inhibitor,  AKA 'Coolant'  at the correct strength?

 

/how old is it?

2 hours ago, Occy245 said:

Engine oil should be above 90 and, ideally, below 110.

 

I was going to disagree until I realised I had not taken in the word above

 

So instead I agree and think its a very good description to cover a wide range of operating conditions and giving a margin of security.

 

Engine oil will frequently go up to and above 130°c when towing a very heavy load with a big wind frontage, that is well within the capabilities of the oil and lubrication system, I have seen it peak to 140°c once, it will usually come down to within your range once on the flat, if it doesn't then something is becoming marginal.

 

The water temperature would no doubt also have climbed in the above scenario but the gauge hides that from me, it's better to not be worrying about 2 things at once!

I trust the car enough that unless it's bonging at me, everything is okay!

 

I make sure the oil has been at 90° for at least a few minutes before shifting the car on a bit. 

 

I've seen as high as 130°, however that was on a track day with a stripped 718.

150°c with a dry sumped motorcycle engined Caterham during endurance races on short circuits like Lydden Hill or Brands Hatch club circuit, much less on faster longer circuits like Silverstone, Cadwell park etc.

 

It hit 170°c once but ran a crankshaft bearing.

On 04/12/2024 at 20:51, J.R. said:

 

I was going to disagree until I realised I had not taken in the word above

 

So instead I agree and think its a very good description to cover a wide range of operating conditions and giving a margin of security.

 

Engine oil will frequently go up to and above 130°c when towing a very heavy load with a big wind frontage, that is well within the capabilities of the oil and lubrication system, I have seen it peak to 140°c once, it will usually come down to within your range once on the flat, if it doesn't then something is becoming marginal.

 

The water temperature would no doubt also have climbed in the above scenario but the gauge hides that from me, it's better to not be worrying about 2 things at once!

I agree with this. My experience of gen 2s and gen 3s ea888s are they regulate coolant around 105C on rad intake temp.  Output from rad is lower, obviously following cooling and will depend to some extent on the ambient temps, the ecu has some pre-determined expectations on the amount of temp differential and will for example report an inadequate cooling or circ issue if it goes outside it's believed programmed parameters.

@J.R.   WTF has a Caterham to do with anything other than a Caterham?.

 

Waterless Coolant, good to minus 40*C & to over 170*C

 

 

 

Remember this

6 hours ago, Ootohere said:

WTF has a Caterham to do with anything other than a Caterham?.

 

Oil temperature, the properties of oil don't change dependant on what engine is being lubricated.

 

It was stated that oil temp should remain below 110°c, I disagreed citing my real world experience of oil temperatures, so did Occy245, I notice that you did not award him a WTF regarding his stripped 718 whatever that may be.

 

The engine was a Honda CBR1100XX, the oil was full synthetic

Indicated oil temperatures with TSI,s of 125-130 *oC is not uncommon, car being driving spirited in higher ambient temperatures. 

 

You use the appropriate oils. 

 

With Mk2 Fabia vRS twinchargers, 1,390 cc  & under 4 litres of oil, be them standard or remapped i used Water Wetter, and 5w 40 FS not 5w 30 FS III (Long Life oil.)

This got the oil temp back down quicker and the coolant also running a bit cooler. 

Edited 6 December, 20241 yr by Ootohere

On 05/12/2024 at 05:42, Occy245 said:

 

/how old is it?

 

Done thermostat housing and water pump less than 3 months ago, so brand new G12Evo coolant (also replaced the expansion tank with one without silikat 😎)

6 hours ago, Mr_Brownstone said:

 

Done thermostat housing and water pump less than 3 months ago, so brand new G12Evo coolant (also replaced the expansion tank with one without silikat 😎)

 

Did you change the coolant type for the one with no silicone bag? I can't remember what is it (neither my EA211 Leon or EA888 Octavia have the bag) however I remember seeing that if removing the bag, you should switch to a slightly different coolant. I did read you'd done the therm and pump, but after seeing someone once drain old coolant into a basin and reuse it, I always ask😂

 

Of course, it would help to know if this issue existed before you did all that! I'd be inclined to just keep an eye on it, and check ti every now and again. Discrepancy or not, 105° is still within limits. Certainly, I recently drove 700 miles to the North of Scotland, in one hop, and then finished up on the mountain roads. The coolant stayed rock solid at 90° which, after some 13 hours and with the car fully loaded, I find it hard to believe. I reckon, like the fuel gauge, the temp is just a bit crap.

 

My bad re the 718 (it's a friends GT4, I'm a student and couldn't afford a wheel on it) - I was more mentioning it, as JR said, as proof that oil/coolant can go well above normal operating temps. Oil will go up to several hundred degrees, and most coolants boil circa 130°, with some even going as high as 150/60°.

 

Im sure 

15 hours ago, Occy245 said:

 

The coolant stayed rock solid at 90° which, after some 13 hours and with the car fully loaded, I find it hard to believe. I reckon, like the fuel gauge, the temp is just a bit crap.

 

 

As a lot of members on here already know, the temp gauge is Bravo Sierra......  It will show 90C coolant temp for quite a wide range of temperatures. If you want real data the two temp sensor data items in engine data will show you what is actually happening with engine coolant temps at the two different locations there are thermistors.

Is there a way with a cheap Bluetooth OBD dongle or something to be able to see parameters like the above while driving?

 

I appreciate it means taking my eye off the road, given my vision I would more likely use it at a standstill.

 

I can see the oil temo on the maxidot, the water temp is Bravo Sierra as is the fuel level (beneath 3/8 of a tank) and the miles remaining.

 

The 2 parameters I would really like to see the true values of are water temperature when I am towing a heavy load and how many litres in the fuel tank when I am doing my usual pushing the limits of range, I know from VCDS that the fuel tank sensors (dual in my case) are remarkably accurate right down to the last litre whereas the fuel guage has been on zero and Maxidot showing zero miles remaining for the last 60 miles or more.

 

I dont want to carry the laptop to use VCDS and equally dont want to pay out for a second diagnostic tool like OBD11, is there anything cheap out there, maybe even a head unit as they can display vehicle data from the Canbus.

Probably...   I have the Torque Lite app on my phone and have used it with a Cheap ELM327 Obd dongle before now for displaying live data.  You can add dials and displays to the phone screen to show the data whilst driving and one of them is coolant temperature provided the vehicle has the relevant sensor 

 

If you have an Android headunit it could even potentially be installed on that 

Edited 8 December, 20241 yr by skomaz

Second for Torque Lite/Pro. I don't use it, but have heard good things.

 

Most fuel gauges in cars are useless (they are, after all, an approximation), however VAG group seem to be particularly bad. In my vRS, Leon and current/previous family cars (Ibiza, A/S3, A4, various Golf's) the fuel gauges have all been horrendous.

 

In my Leon I actually went to speak to SEAT it was so bad. I'd travel 200 miles and still have a full tank, and then in the next 100 miles it fell faster than 2020 toilet roll supply chains.

Yeah I've used premium torque app with a cheapish obd dongle and as said, you can set up a dial display on your Android phone or tablet, I have used it to say monitor in progress boost pressure. Temp reading on one thermistor, the engine temp defn works, I can't remember if it allows you to pick up the second coolant temp sensor, I'd have to check!! 

Thanks all, I have a bluetooth OBD adaptor somewhere and an Android phone (head unit is Windows 😒) so will look into it.

 

2 hours ago, Occy245 said:

Most fuel gauges in cars are useless (they are, after all, an approximation), however VAG group seem to be particularly bad. In my vRS, Leon and current/previous family cars (Ibiza, A/S3, A4, various Golf's) the fuel gauges have all been horrendous.

 

Agreed yet the measured value of level in litres using VCDS is amazingly accurate especially if you have the twin sender saddle tank, even the guage is very accurate until it gets to around 3/8 of a tank and then the fiddle factor comes in to create the virtual reserve tank that has most people refilling their tanks long before they risk running out.

 

On my MK2 Octavia I ran it dry on the first tank to find the true maximum range, it had done about 80 further miles after showing zero and zero miles remaining, I carried 5 litres in a jerrycan knowing I would run out, after putting that in the tank the fuel guage rose by an appropriate amount, it showed 50 miles remaining, slightly conservative but still super accurate for probably only a couple of cms at the bottom of the tank.

 

It was less than a mile to the fuel station for the proper fill up, during which time the miles remaining dropped every 100m or so, 50, 40, 30, 10, 5, then zero before I had even got there!!!!!!!!

Hello folks, I have a long warm up issue in my skoda octavia mk3 2014 1.4 chpa 140 hp. So the car works well, but over winter I saw that coolant temperature goes up slight slowly:

 

1. Cold start at 2 *C

2. About 10 km at 80 kmph - sensor at dashboard says 60-70 *C, oil sensor says 50-55 *C.

3. Next 10 km at 90-120 kmph sensor at dashboard finnaly sets up at 90*C, but oil cant beat 80-85 *C

 

Oil was changes about 11kkm ago, I changed it over 15 kkm - or 1 year. So change is near.

Coolant is at normal level, no leaks.

 

Could someone share about his measurmenst of oil and coolant temperatures at winter in this specyfic car & engine ?

 

Take care.

It's because you have the heating on/on max. I often freeze for the first 15 minutes of a journey, leaving the heating off, so that the car warms up faster. You'll also find that the hot air at startup isn't as hot as it is once the engine is at temp.

 

The heater core absorbs heat from the engine via the coolant system - I've had it one or two times where the oil temperature has gone live before the coolant temp does. That's why, when a car overheats, a common trick is to run the heater on full blast!

 

If the car is absolutely frozen, I also try and give the engine a chance to warm up/battery recover a little before piling on the load - heated windows, blower, a/c, infotainment, etc.

 

Re the oil temp - in colder weather and higher speeds, the engine will run a bit colder as it is naturally being air cooled by very cold air. Same principle as the highest temps you will see (in normal driving) will be in standing traffic, in the summer. For some cold countries, you can actually buy covers/blocks for the grilles, to allow the engine to warm up fully, if the air is -10° or whatever.

Edited 14 January, 20251 yr by Occy245

1 hour ago, radoszczak said:

Hello folks,

......

Take care.

Seems normal 

The other thing to remember is that the dashboard temperature gauge is pretty dumb and will indicate 90 degrees over a wide range of actual temperatures (say 70 to 110).  The oil sensor temperature shown in the centre screen on the dashboard will be more accurate.