Protege Engine Temp Gauge
 

What's up with it? I swear, no matter how hard you puch the car, it ALWAYS stays right below half. The gauge on my Dad's Vette actually fluctuates depending on how hard you're pushing the car, but the one in the P5 just doesn't budge! I sat in the driveway one hot day, with the A/C on max, and revved the engine to about 6000 RPM and held it there for the length of two songs. (About 8 minutes,) and the temp gauge didn't move at all! I know the A/C shuts off at WOT, but I was just sitting, so it was at about half-throttle, meaning the A/C was on. Why then does the gauge not move past half at least a little way? I remember something that claimed that the RX-7's used to have this issue. I know it's really stupid, but I just want to know why it's doing that.

Surely the cooling system can't keep the engine that cool, with A/C on, at 6000 RPM, on a 25*C day, with no air moving past the radiator? Or can it?

I've noticed that myself. I have no idea why.

You do know that the A/C has it's own rad,don't you?

yeah this annoys me too.... i learned to drive that big old caprice with a 305 V8 in it, and watching the temp gauge you could tell a diffrence almost all the time....

hmmm odd....

any ideas?

bueler?

Yes, I do. What's that got to do with anything?

If the A\C has it's own external rad then how would it heat up the engine?

by having to turn the compressor it makes the engine work harder for one thing....

and an A/C unit doesn't have a "radiator" per say....its an evaporator coil.....and its in front of the engines radiator.

may the pro just has a very well designed cooling system. the radiator is twice the size of a honda civic's:)

running your a/c heats up your engine for 3 reasons.
1. usually you only run your a/c when it is hot outside, therefore the air that cools your radiator is hotter to begin with.
2. your a/c compressor puts drag on the engine when it is on making the engine work a little harder when it is hot outside.
3. the CONDENSOR is mounted in front of your radiator. it gets hot on it's own (due to the way a/c works) and the air has to go through the condensor before the air passes through the radiator, therefore heating the already hot air that cools the radiator.

i do have a question for you. do you take pleasure in trying to ruin your new car? what good does it do run the a/c and rev the engine to 6 grand for a few minutes just to see if you can get the temp to rise???? your neighbors probably think you are looney:p

Tom,

I wasn't wrecking the car by any means! Sure, it may have been running a little hot in actuality, but even so, how would that ruin the engine? The FS-DE can actually be run up to 7800 RPM without any problems, so I hardly see how 6000 for a few minutes could cause any harm. :p Btw, I live on 2 acres, so my neighbors are a good 80 yards away! ;)