[scallywag]

Where should the temperature guage normally sit on my 1993 Saab 9000 CSE 2.0 non-turbo. When I am doing motorway miles it sits just above the "L" mark and when I am in town it sits around half way up or the midway point. In the manual it says that it should sit halfway normally? What is everyones expeience of this? I am worried the person I bought it from has somehow fudged the sensor so that the engine appears cooler than in actually is. Help Please. Many Thanks

 

[Mark B]

Other posts on this forum suggest that the pre 96 cars have real temperature gauge, unlike the later gauges which only show hot when something's gone wrong. I assume this applies to non turbo cars, my 94 turbo certainly has a real gauge, as does my friends 93 turbo.

The gauge normally sits at the 8 o'clock position (just below horizontal) unless you get stuck in traffic or it's a very hot day. The fan cuts in when the needle is a few millimetres short of the red (two speed fan, 94 car, others may be different). It sounds like your car is behaving similarly, just a bit lower than my description. This could be due to a bit of extra resistance in the circuit, possibly a dirty connector at the sensor. The sensor is at the back of the head. Take the connector off and make sure the contacts are clean, see if it makes any difference. Also, let the engine run until the fan cuts in, and tell us where the gauge needle is at that point. If it's not dirty contacts, then probably a new thermostat would be the next option, unless you've got access to temperature measuring equipment to measure the top hose or heater hose temperature.

 

[microcat36]

both my cc and cse 9000i sit about where yours sits, i have changed both thermostats and not found any diff, if it heats up ok (warm air through the vents quite quickly when cold) i would not worry about it, i have started both at the same time just to check them and both heat up at the same time.

 

[mark e]

Nothing to worry about there, scallywag. I'd say you have an 82 degree 'stat- mine behaves just the same.

 

[California Saab Tuner]

This might be thermostat related:

I always complain about how my car doesn't perform well in the heat. But I should be more specific. It can be 100 degrees outside and for the first couple full throttle passes (or the first couple minutes at part throttle) after it's completely warmed up it performs great. But then (because the new Saabs use idiot gauges) perhaps as the engine reaches max operating temp it changes the boost and fuel curves depending on knock (warmer engines are more sensitive to that) and just to keep from overheating. If it's the former, perhaps installing a lower temp thermostat could really help my car. Since I live in such a warm climate should the lower thermostat be appropriate anyway? Really trying to get rid of this dang boost curve change after warm up. Gets annoying not to run full bost!

Thanks for any ideas! Keep on Saabin'

 

[Mark B]

It certainly won't do you any harm to try a cooler thermostat. If you change from (for example) an 88C stat to an 82C stat (190F to 180F), you should most of the time run 6C or 10F cooler (assuming the full open temp is also 6C/10F lower).