Over cooling ??

[rs200]

Is this normal temp, for a 2.0 tdci. With no heating on ??

Can get the needle into the middle where i presume is normal operating temp by driving car hard. yet when i ease off needle drops to where it is in pic.

Just wondering if  car is overcooling 

[andypsp]

nothing wrong with that, so don`t worry. 

[rs200]

Same journey with heating on full, blowing on number 2 

[Guzzilazz]

If you can get hold of a IR Pyrometer (I got a Black & Decker one for about £25, which is good enough for this sort of work) point it at the area of the block adjacent to the coolant sensor and see what the temp is.  I reckon it's either the gauge or sensor being inaccurate, but once you know you can "re baseline" your normal...  Easier to check that than anything else... except, maybe, when the engine's cold and just started, put your hand on the top rad hose, and feel if it warms up fairly quickly... if it does maybe your 'stat isn't closing properly

[JW1982]

Be aware that the temperature gauge does not show realtime values. The temperature gauge shows a value that is calculated by the PCM. The PCM uses the data of several sensors to calculate the actual coolant temperature value. This value is communicated by the CANbus network to the instrument cluster.

 

This behavior of the temperature gauge is completely normal during winter.

Modern Diesel engines are quite efficient. They simply do not generate a lot of heat. In the winter many modern Diesel engines do not generate enough heat to warm up both the engine and the interior. Under high load the engine may generate enough heat to keep both the engine and interior warm. However when idling or under low load the engine will not generate enough heat. When the engine does not generate enough heat to keep both the engine en interior warm the coolant temperature will simply drop.

Many modern Diesel engines do have heating elements inside the coolant system to warm up the engine faster and keeping it warm when the engine itself does not generate enough heat. 

Next to this Ford uses the (optional) PTC heater system in some cold climate countries to solve this problem. This system consists of an electronically controlled electric heating element which is mounted inside the heater housing to warm up the interior. When the PTC heater system is active there will be a lot less heat of the engine used to warm up the interior. The PTC heater system automatically shuts down if the engine temperature is above 80 degrees Celsius.

[isetta]

that's about the same as my fiesta 1.6tdci was which I bought at 6 months old and had for 9 years. It was always like that. Diesels are relatively efficient engines that do not create as much excess heat as petrol engines. If I drove somewhere to collect my daughter and sat in the car with engine running and heating on with fan in the slowest position whilst waiting for her, the temp guage would gradually go down and down. on tickover the engine it produced so little excess heat it could not even keep up with keeping me slightly warm.

[rs200]

Thanks , has put my mind at ease