[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by Blue-S

When you say the dash gauge indicates 180, where is the needle pointing? Is it straight up, between the "8" and the "0"? I contend that the tic mark above the "8" is the 180 degree position, and the common cruise position (straight up, between the 8 and the 0) is intended to indicate HOTTER than 180 degrees. The gauge is certainly non-linear, and was apparently not designed to provide a precise temperature indication. If they had used a more serious-looking font, maybe they could have placed the number markings in a centered position below each respective tic mark. Maybe they should have just left the numbers off of the gauge altogether...

Typically, we use the middle of the “8” as our reference point, and when the needle is there, the coolant is 210-215F; go past that and it gets even hotter, often reaching 225F by the time it is over the “0”. Because of the non linearity of the gauge, the relationship of position to actual temp is very misleading……