> Yes. CT39561L has a metric gauge. The needle moves to the 70 and stays
> there. I can't say I've ever seen it the gauge read any higher than the
> right of the normal operation marks. And, it needs a bit of choke when
the
> temp is on the low side of normal. I haven't put a thermometer in the
> radiator to test what the coolant temperature is...it's working as I
expect
> it to, so why worry about it?
Well... I've never really worried about it either (I've just always been
curious). I usually have more serious issues to worry about; however, as
luck would have it, things seem to be running somewhat smoothly at the
moment, so I thought I'd investigate.
I mentioned that I was going to try to check/calibrate my temperature gauge.
Rather than pull the sending unit and bother with boiling water out in my
garage, I decided to simply open the radiator cap, insert a candy
thermometer into the radiator, run the engine until it reached operating
temperature and see what happens. It turns out (according to my test
results) that my gauge does not seem to be calibrated properly. My normal
operating temperature (around 75C on my gauge) corresponded to 185F on the
candy thermometer. I cut my electric fan off for a few moments and let the
gauge rise to the upper middle mark (I'd guess around 78C). At this point
the candy thermometer read just under 195F.
It's still a mystery to me as to why the gauge is marked/calibrated the way
it is. Based on your comments, and those of another lister, I'd guess
they're all calibrated the same way. In other words, 70C on the gauge like
corresponds to around 175/180F and not 158F (which would be a straight
conversion).
Now I can go back to worrying about bigger problems... like that strange
"clank" I heard this morning when I first started my car. :)
Kurtis J.
Russellville, Arkansas
1963 TR4
CT19389L
www.geocities.com/tr4_1963
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