fabchef

Hi folks. So just a few months ago, i had the radiator, evaporator, thermostat, coolant flush done on my car(long story). The parts were oem, not sure of coolant though.
so this week has been cold (about -12 celsius). I parked my car outside.
once it got started and moving about calmly, and reached operating temperature (middle of temp gauge). I noticed that when i arrived at destination and shut off car (still cold outside), i went back after half an hour and checked temp gauge (one bar up before cold) and after another half hour, it was at the cold mark. Is it normal that in this cold weather it would go down to Cold in an hour?
also, after driving a bit. I turned off car, i touched the radiator and it was cold, rad car and was warm. Rad hose where thermostat house was warm/hot, and rad hose on drivers side was hot.
this sound normal?
i'm also missing a bit of coolant in reservoir
thanks
fab

spinellib

I'm not exactly sure what the temp of "C" is on our gauges, but it probably takes 150 degrees just to make the needle move.
The temperature difference between "C" and the needle at normal running temp is only about 40 degrees.
So it won't take long on a really cold day for the engine block to drop only 30 or 40 degrees when it's no longer running.

Margate330

Interesting, I was wondering about that.

fabchef

Spinelli, that's true. I think also that seeing as the ac condenser and rad are new, there is more air now flowing through them? Also, when i was driving, i wasn't using the air conditioner, so when i shut off the engine, the condenser was really cold and rad was cool/warm.

iMSQ

It's normal. Operating T is usually 90 celsius, "cold" - maybe up to 40 celsius
PS: To convert temperatures in degrees Celsius to Fahrenheit, multiply by 1.8 (or 9/5) and add 32.

spinellib

Just a guess with the numbers. But it's easily checked by monitoring the needle while an OBD scanner is reporting the temperature.

Sounds perfectly normal. Sure, you could be getting more airflow through the new components. Doesn't take much to get the space between the fins clogged with dirt and leaves, or crud to build up inside the radiator.