The temperature gauge is one of the most important gauges on your car’s dashboard. But how much do you know about it? Below, we explain what you need to know about your car’s temperature gauge.
What the Temperature Gauge Does
First, what exactly does the temperature gauge do and tell you about your vehicle? The device measures the temperature of your engine coolant. The coolant or anti-freeze circulates through the engine and radiator to absorb and dissipate heat so they don’t run too hot. If the coolant temperature gets too high, the engine can overheat and sustain catastrophic damage.
Why Your Temperature Guage Is High
Ideally, the dial of your car’s temperature gauge should be in the middle, which means it’s operating at around 200 degrees. The gauge needle doesn’t have to be exactly in the middle, but if it slowly creeps higher and higher the more you drive, there’s likely a problem. In this case, you should stop before it reaches a critical temperature.
If your car overheats on the road, you’ll want to take immediate measures to cool it and pull over before you do any more damage to the engine. Your car is overheating due to a lack of coolant circulating through the system, which likely means you have a leak or some blockage preventing the coolant from circulating.
How To Avoid Overheating
The coolant is the biggest factor in your engine’s temperature, so monitoring your car’s anti-freeze levels is crucial. Anytime you get an oil change or other routine maintenance, have the professionals check the coolant levels or check them yourself to ensure they’re at the recommended levels.
Coolant doesn’t last forever, so you’ll have to flush the system and replace the coolant every 30,000 miles or whatever your owner’s manual recommends.
Why Your Temperature Guage Is Low
Another thing you need to know about your car’s temperature gauge is why it’s running low. A temperature gauge running cold is rare and usually implies a problem with the gauge itself or the thermometer.
Every gauge will be low as you start the engine, but as you drive for a few minutes, it should gradually rise to normal temperature. But if your gauge is still low after driving for 10 minutes, either the gauge is broken or the thermometer is stuck. Whatever the case, you’ll want a professional to check it out and probably replace it, as the gauge is no longer accurate.
