Temp Gauge Accuracy 57 TBird

[cscolastico]

Good morning all. I am aware from researching this forum that the temp gauge is not necessarily accurate. I was driving up a mountain road in very hot weather after a car show in So Cal. My temp needle rose to just past the "white" normal range to halfway between the edge of normal and the "H" for hot. It did not overheat, ie steam escaping. Is it safe to assume that if the car does not overheat there is no harm to the motor?

In that same drive, after awhile, the engine started sputtering when under load, but idled okay. I stopped and let things cool. There after no engine sputtering. Would the sputtering be attributed to vapor lock. Hot day, about 4000 feet elevation.

Thanks

[paul2748]

I seriously doubt that there was any harm to the engine. I've had the gauge goo all the way to hot with no problems.

The sputtering could be from vapor lock (heat in the engine compartment). The other possibility could be the condensor going bad under very hot conditions.

Good morning all. I am aware from researching this forum that the temp gauge is not necessarily accurate. I was driving up a mountain road in very hot weather after a car show in So Cal. My temp needle rose to just past the "white" normal range to halfway between the edge of normal and the "H" for hot. It did not overheat, ie steam escaping. Is it safe to assume that if the car does not overheat there is no harm to the motor?

In that same drive, after awhile, the engine started sputtering when under load, but idled okay. I stopped and let things cool. There after no engine sputtering. Would the sputtering be attributed to vapor lock. Hot day, about 4000 feet elevation.

Thanks

[CSavaglio]

The "normal" operating temp for mine is at the hot end of the middle white section and even higher in traffic. I've verified with an infrared temp gun (cheap and worth their weight in gold) and the temp was 185*.

I've tried every combination of original and new senders with original, new, and NOS gauges and I get the same results. I've just learned to accept it.

Without taking readings with a temp gun, there's no way to really know what temperature it's running.

As far as the sputtering, what has been mentioned already is worth checking and I'll add that, having lots of experience at higher altitudes (my house is around 6500ft) fuel boils at a lower temperature the higher you get meaning vapor lock and fuel boiling over in the carb can be an issue. Also, it's possible that, depending on how the car is tuned, it's running rich enough when you get to the higher altitudes, it's running rich. Usually jets will be ok enough to get by with if you're just passing through, but because you lose vacuum the higher you go, the power valve could be opening up at cruise, causing a rich condition when you don't need it.

Is it running the same way at your normal altitude?

[cscolastico]

Thanks for all your replies. The car seems to run the same at lower altitudes. I live in the mountains and go "down the hill" regularly with no apparent difference in performance. I think that as suggested on here, that it was a perfect storm of higher altitude, climbing up the mountain and a 95+ degree day.

[bobioknight]

My gauge runs about ⅛ inch from reaching the hot section of the gauge, if I am sitting in traffic on a hot day then I will see it creep up a little bit, if I am racing at high speeds down the freeway it might creep up a little as well, but mostly it just sits right at that same position. When I laser temp test it it's right around 180. I used to be nervous about it since the temp is so close to the hot section, but I don't worry anymore. I have smelled that hot sweet smell of coolant once or twice running down the freeway but the gauge was not hot and the smell has always gone away quickly,

Going up hill and shuddering, it could be vapor locking if the temp is raising hot enough to to boil the fuel in the bowls, is your fuel line stock, I remember at one point my fuel line ran too close to the manifold and caused some trouble, I took a look at some photos of the original setup and tried to match it and it helped a lot. Lastly, another thing that I did that might have helped was added a non metal spacer between the carb and manifold. My carb would get so hot with the stock spacer that you could barely touch the carb and filter without burning yourself, with the new spacer it stays almost cold. Added benefit of colder fuel more horsepower and no vapor lock.

Good luck, the guys here are a huge help.

[CSPIDY]

I have found that the water temp gauge in our 57 to be very consistent. When the temp is at the top of the white band that it is right about 190 degrees which is probably the best operating temp for the Y block engine. That is where our's runs on hot days. And until the needle gets to the H it is not overheating.