temp gauge reading a bit high

[Fadebraham]

Thank you ! I really appreciate it ! I got the car for 4K here in British Columbia with only 149000km on it . The car is in nice shape the previous owner said it was tuned to idle a bit higher. I drove the car home for about an hour or so no problems besides the temp it would bounce from the middle to a bit past it but never in the red . Not sure if it’s due to the tune or maybe the thermostat but I’m eager to find out if I should solve this issue before any big drives sorry if this is the wrong place to ask or if I should just search the page but I’m excited to learn I love this car it’s my first carb motor as well used to have a 99 328i

[Fadebraham]

Or possibly air bubbles in the coolant res?

[SirFoxx]

Or possibly air bubbles in the coolant res?

anything over a smidge past middle is concerning. start with the thermostat. if that doesnt fix it, your head gasket is in the process of failing -- typical of these cars at this point. head gasket is very easy to do on these if it comes down to it, though, one overheat generally will warp the head. but lets focus on the small stuff first.

[dlb]

I'm not sure how to move your posts so I'll just answer them here but yeah, in the future you can start a new thread in the appropriate section of the forum.

If your car is 2wd it's most likely also a DLX trim level, and I have found the temp gauges in the DLX's to tend to read a bit higher than in the SR5's. I have no idea for why that would be or if that's just been my luck so take that with a grain of salt. But regardless, my current Tercel (a 4wd SR5 model) had a temp situation similar to yours. I investigated lots of things but never found any issues so I figured it was just an inaccurate gauge. Then the head gasket blew. I replaced it and figured NOW it would run a bit cooler, hopefully just below the middle of the gauge, but nope. Still 1/2 to 2/3 on the gauge. So I swapped the regular thermostat for a 160* one and now it runs considerably cooler, around 1/4 to 1/3 on the gauge, which is a bit lower than I want but it's fine since it doesn't get too cold here anyway.

That's my longwinded way of saying: my suggestion is to swap to a cooler (but not TOO cool) thermostat before you damage the head gasket. I doubt there is air in your cooling system.

[Fadebraham]

Okay thank you I’ll give it a go !

[Fadebraham]

Or possibly air bubbles in the coolant res?

anything over a smidge past middle is concerning. start with the thermostat. if that doesnt fix it, your head gasket is in the process of failing -- typical of these cars at this point. head gasket is very easy to do on these if it comes down to it, though, one overheat generally will warp the head. but lets focus on the small stuff first.

If it’s the head would this be a costly fix if outsourced . I’ve been watching videos and If back home I feel I could do it my self but I live across the country now without access to a proper space to do such job in my apartment building

[NWMO]

FB,

Good suggestions thus far, though I’ve found the head gaskets and heads more durable than others. I assume your cooling fan is automatically coming on any time the temp gauge gets above half?? If your cooling fan is working properly and you’re still seeing higher temps, I would start to investigate the radiator, thermostat, water pump, etc. If you aren’t seeing water in the oil (milky) or a noticeable loss of coolant over time, I wouldn’t spend time worrying about the head and HG just yet.

Chris