I just changed my thermostat to a 160 and reprogrammed my fans with a diablo predator. The problem is that it still reads near 200 degrees if with the fans running. I thought I read somewhere about people having problems with not getting an accurate temp reading. I have a 02 35th LE SS by the way.

 

Yeah, that seems to be pretty common from what I've seen. I put my 160 stat in and the needle didn't move that much. Mine sits around 190~200 also. I know it's working alright though becuase the fans hardly come on....and when they do, it's not for long. Before the stat, they came on a lot...especially in traffic.

 

You are right about the inaccuracy of the temp guage. It is designed from GM to hover around 200 degrees whether it is 175 or 210. I only assume it is that way so that everyday drivers don't panic when they see their temp guages fluctuating from daily driving...

You need ATAP or something to get that accurate reading.

 

Keep in mind the range of the gauge, it isn't evenly split so 165-195 will be right around the same place on the gauge.

 

According to my new gauge, the stock gauge will give the same reading from about 175° to 240°.

 

You can see the actual coolant temp in the real time diagnostic section on your Predator. It's correct. The guage is wrong.

Did the Pred disable your CAGS? ...give much SOTP power increase?

 

165 and 195 are half a gauge away from each other. They are not around the same place.


99 and up F-Bodies have set temp gauges. The 98's don't, they do read accurate (well, as close as it gets with a stock gauge). In late 98, GM got too many stupid women writing in that their car was running cool and was suddenly running hot. They got scared and thought there was something wrong with their car. So, to set these stupid women's minds at ease, GM changed the gauge in 99 to read almost a constant 210.