flash7210 wrote:
It also possible that your factory temp gauge is mis-calibrated.
In any case, as long as your temp needle stays close to 12:00, your good.
There are only two ways to know exactly what your coolant temp is.
1. Install a quality digital temp gauge
2. Monitor live sensor data using an application like TorquePro
Flash:
You are only partly correct here.
You are correct when you say the ONLY way to know exactly what your engine temperature is, is to use a quality digital temp gauge or monitor it with TorquePro or an OBDII reader.
You are incorrect in stating that as long as the needle on your O.E. engine temperature gauge is close to 12:00 o'clock, you are O.K. The O.E. gauge is inaccurate, and therefore can not be trusted.
There is also a simple fact to consider regarding the opening temperature of the thermostat valve in the O.E. thermostat assembly. Outside of overheat situations, hot weather and heavy load demands on your engine, the HIGHEST you can ever expect your engine's operating temperature to be is 176 degrees Fahrenheit. Ask any diesel engine designer, engineer, or technician about that temperature and they will tell you it simply is not the ideal temperature to run the any current internal combustion engine at, let alone a diesel.
As we all know, any thermostat valve's performance will deteriorate over time and that they are designed to fail open. Barring any other cooling system problems that can cause overheat situations, your engine's operating temperature will only lower from 176 degrees over time and use. So essentially you are going from a bad situation to an even worse situation as time and miles pile up on your engine. All that pollutant crap clogging up your intake tract and cylinder head? That is not simply the particulates from the EGR system and the crankcase ventings, it is also improperly combusted fuel from the engine running at too low an operating temperature. Compounding the problems of the terrible pollution control system and incomplete combustion is the fact that none of the sludge that forms in the intake tract as a result of these problems ever has a chance to burn off because engine is r-u-n-n-i-n-g t-o-o c-o-o-l.
If you want the ideal power output, fuel economy and reliability a modern diesel engine can offer, 176 degrees Fahrenheit is simply not a high enough operating temperature.