I just bought a 03 Tl and I noticed that the car never completely warms up as in the needle for the temperature gauge never goes to the middle. It goes up and then stops below the middle. But it drives fine as I take this as fully warm because I can never warm it up. Are your Tl's like this too or is mine just weird? or is it prepping for me to redline it to get fully warmed up. It never goes past the middle point or even to it. It goes to like the 5/12 point (6/12 being the middle) of the temperature. Basically it never lines up with the middle of the fuel gauge. If your cars are never like this, I'll take a pic tomorrow to show you.

 

Some cars are different. You most likely have a car that is fully warmed up at "5/12". This might be completely normal for your car.

 

actually the TL should run 1 or 2 clicks below half all the time- after a few minutes of driving for warmup
After that- the driver side fan should cover any needs, and regardless of ac on -90 degrees- 80mph uphill at 6000 feet and still never waver from that same just below half

It it ever rises above that you have a problem,- stop and fix immedialty

the passenger side fan is controlled by the ac On

join acura.com owner link and you can get an online owner manual
lot of trick systems- seat heat and things to know about the car

welcome to the forum and your TL
read the main thread title list for most subjects are listed

 

register with `acura care` as new owner- need cars vin -1 800 382 2238 x5

there are a couple of recalls on the 03 and you may get a free timing belt job!!

 

Mine always runs just below 1/2 scale- no matter the outside temp. Sounds normal. Why do you think it's not warmed up?

 

Your car is normal. It should run just below half way. Dont worry about it. All of our cars do that.

 

this is not your dads beater chevy!!

temp is stable or there is a real problem- thats what you need to know

 

how hot should our coolant be? mine is 190 degrees with no timing retard.

 

With the Mugen cooling mods it runs about a 1/2 click below the OEM reading.

In the winter, when it's really cold out it runs several clicks below the OEM reading.

 

Just never had a car like this b4. I had a BMW 330ci, 740i and a Saab 9-3 and all of the temperature gauges went straight to the middle and stayed there. That's why when the TL didn't go to the middle I thought it was weird.

 

perfectly normal dude! i never owned a tl before either and really thought it was strange but our cars seem to just stay a few notches below the middle mark.

it takes my car probably 5 minutes to warm up and then its own its way. i like how the ecu idles at 1500 rpm for a few minutes and then it drops and you slowly see the temp gauge needle rise.

 

nsx- what is it- negative something in winter for you?

west coast year round it never moves for me~

 

If you want to be perfectly sure it's in-spec, throw an OBD scan-tool with live data capabilities to pick up the coolant temp and compare that to what's listed in the service manual.

 

There's no need for name calling.

 

180-190 is normal for most cars

 

Not sure if this pic will show up for you, but look how cold my 08 IS300 runs fully warmed up here in Dubai...

 

oh and for your guide, I was in the "slow" lane...

 

I had my thermostat (Acura replacement part) changed at about 125,000 miles. I had a Prelude and the thermo. stuck closed so I figured that changing it couldn't hurt in my 11 and 1/2 year old car. I noticed that the temp. guage read a little higher with the new thermostat. The old one was getting weak. The car has gotten better mileage with the new thermostat. Probabaly due to it running a little hotter. It's still below the 1/2 way mark but is now higher than it was before. Thermostats do get weak and sometimes fail.

 

I plan to replace mine along with new hoses at timing belt-water pump time
Its cheap insurance

you cant fool me- that speedo is KMs

hows that water temp do when its 150f outside?

 

I do like that dash warning- speed limit exceeded and a warning triangle!!

When you pass by a checkpoint, does it download that info and send you the ticket?

 

In racing it is very common for the guage needles to be calibrated to be in the middle of the sweep range. That's so the driver only needs to take a quick look to see if they're all at the same position (i.e.- where their supposed to be) and not have to read each "number".

We had an 87' Shelby Charger Turbo that was set up like that from Ol' Shell's shop.

 

That pic was taken on the way back from the Formula 1 in Abu Dhabi last year. They have cameras every 5 kilometers on that road which snap you at 180+ so people tend to go between 160-180. In dubai, there is a camera every 2 km with a limit of 120. The camera caught me once in the 7th lane going 130 and the ticket was about USD 200. My first year here, I paid about USD 1200 in fines. Last year, $0. I know where the cameras are now : )

 

wow- I was kidding about the roadside auto speed readers!!! but nearly true~

most race cars I worked on used standard gauges but turn the unit in the mounting hole so the desired normal temp is straight up

Driver can understand that easier than remembering which part (several things get temp guages) gets what temp and when blowers need to turn on or off
Just look for the needle straight up!!! and drive!!!!

on a roadrace course, most of the time you get one place to check the guages, maybe look at half of them on a short straight and the rest exiting onto long straight,, oil pressure and temp need a quick check before full blast effort there

 

My car runs 186-188 as read from my OBD scan tool after warmed up.

Also, I would add that the gauge is probably not linear like the speedometer. As long as your car isn't overheating it should stay below half. But you go a couple degrees out that range and next thing you know the needle starts shooting upwards.

 

the guage is calibrated to rise with temp not sudddenly shoot to max redline
with 190-200 as the middle so we run just under that

 

I just doubt it's a linear scale, as in, the change in temperatures outside of "operating engine temperature" are much more drastic.

 

Yeah, I think the 99-03 TL's are just like that. I saw some pictures of other TL's and none of them are at the middle. All of them are just a little below the middle mark of the temperature gauge.

 

the change is more drastic with above norm temp- as it should be-
you pass the normal 180-190,,,200 and 240-260 then kiss those heads goodbye--thats about redline temp on the guage

maybe the lower temp readings are the fakes and the real hot ones are more accurate part of guage??

Either way-- if it ever goes past half its got a problem now-fix today
If its a tick or 2 under half- you are ready to run