I finally got around to installing my mechanical water temp gauge cause my dash one always kinda read low and wanted to know the actual temp, so far my readings average about 170 to 165 while driving is this about normal?

 

180 to 190 is "Normal" from what I read but I could be wrong. I would think you would want to keep it under boiling.

 

Mine runs around 170, what temp is boiling, and recently water has gotten pushed back into the resivor and on another post most people said it was a headgasket and it most likely is but the temp thing i always wondered about

 

Normal temp. is relative, rad fan will turn on a just under 200 degrees F so 180-190 would be "normal".

Then you need to take in to account the gauge you have, how accurate is it, also how accurate is the sending unit.

Best way to tell is wait untill rad fan turns on, use temp. gun to check temperature at thermostat housing, gauge should read tha same as temp gun, if not, calibrate accordingly 94

 

yeah the oem fan likes to cycle between ike 198-202f

where do you have the gauge tapped into the coolant system? 170 is pretty low, maybe your thermostat is stuck open a bit...

 

Tapped into the water neck at the top rad hose, i added the mechainical gauge so i could see what i was running, and ive been having this problem that every once and a while all my coolant that is in the radiator would end up in the resivour or some of the coolant would go in there, it happans sometimes not all the time, i did a block test and the color never changed so i dont suspect a blown headgasket at this point what else could cause this? And could it be linked to the low temp i mean its cold on WI here but the car should still run at operating temp

 

Test temp., [with temp. gun] at the point you have sending unit, [water neck] and compare with gauge. 94

 

Ive tested that already, the thermostat was about 180 and the water neck was about 170, i dont understand how the antifreeze gets pushed into the resivour over time though if my block test came up negative of exhaust in the rad

 

Replace the rad cap. 94

 

I replaced i yesterday, so far so good, i noticed it pushed a little bit into the resivor but im assuming it should cause when the coolant expands it goes there, it sucked it back out once it cooled down, ill keep an eye on it and im probably gonna order an oem thermostat