My girlfriend has an 02 RL. I recently changed and at least attempted to bleed the coolant system. I didn't get a lot of bubbles and the fluid under the radiator cap was very still.
As I don't drive this car very often I'm not familiar with where the temp gauge should sit. On most vehicles it's right in the middle of the gauge but on her car it is perfectly horizontal. is this normal for this vehicle? She drives short distances but we are in florida so the the engine gets up to the horizontal temp quickly. I replaced the temp sensor to see if it had any effect but it did not. I've been concerned the water pump might be failing (no other symptoms).
thanks!

 

There are several images on line of the instrument cluster of the RL (from around 2002) and they show from about horizontal to very slightly above horizontal..All show engine at idle but of course we don’t know if the vehicle has been driven enough to fully warm up the engine.

 

its normal I have an oo rl and the gauge never gets to horizontal i have owned the car for 21 years even after an overheating engine blew both head gaskets and it was repaired the gauge operating temp position ne ver changes It is supposed to quickly get to the position - normal operating temp- as quickly as possible in florida thts normal it means the thermostat is functioning correctly

 

by horizontal im taking it you mean halfway between hot and cold

 

Thank you all for the replies!

Horizontal is not half way on this gauge. It's less than. That's why I was looking at it funny because most cars are dead center. Not knowing the history of the car in detail, I was (AM? haha) worried about the water pump failing.
The upper hose gets damn hot while the lower barely seems to at all. either the radiator is massively efficient or I suspected possible low water flow for various reasons and distrusted the temp gauge.
There is a burning smell when she parks but I think I have found some oil leaks on the back side of the engine that may be cooking off and producing the smell.

 

If you have a repair shop you trust take your RL in and have them do a "flush and fill" on your cooling system, they will also do a "pressure check" of your cooling system during this procedure to ensure there are no leaks anywhere in the system. It can cost anywhere from $100-$150 but it's money well spent considering the damage over-heating can cause to an engine.

 

I just did a test drive on a hot day for 30 mins last weekend and I noticed a similar thing.
On a 2001. It stayed similar to this photo I found on reddit, horizontal rather than centered between C and H. Maybe slightly closer to H than this photo but not much.

 

no mine is always slightly below horizointal even after I replaced the head gaskets thermostat and radiator and had the heads machined

 

One thing I'm curious about is my needle is significantly below the C when the car is off, similar to this



For those where the needle is higher than horizontal, more directly between C and H at normal operating temperature I'm curious where the needle's off position is. It may just be a calibration issue.