Temperature View

[happyheather]

HI there

Im sure Im being dumb, but...

My old car was a honda civic and had 200,000 on the clock, and still ran like a dream apart from the fact that sometimes it would overheat due to a leak in the radiator, so I always had to keep an eye on the temperature.

Ive now got a yaris, and cannot see a temperature view anywhere?

Anyone know where this is?

Heather

[yvvan]

There's no temperature indicator as such, but the blue (cold) and red (hot) lights in the dash.

Cheers, Yves.

[T V O R]

If you don’t see any red or blue temperature lights then everything is working fine.

You will see a blue light when your engine is cold, I keep mine at low revs and drive like a nun on a Sunday afternoon until it goes out, depends on the ambient temperature at the time.

It will go red if the engine is overheating for what ever reason.

It will initially go red when you turn your ignition on (pre check) then turn blue if the engine temp is below normal.

Hope this helps

[Blue84]

You will see a blue light when your engine is cold, I keep mine at low revs and drive like a nun on a Sunday afternoon until it goes out, depends on the ambient temperature at the time.

←

Haha that sounds funny :D :D

I found it hard to get used to not havinga a temperature gauge first of all, but like the others have said especially now as it's colder the green/blue light will stay on for a bit longer than normal til it gets to the correct temperature.

It's quite clever really!

Blue

[happyheather]

You will see a blue light when your engine is cold, I keep mine at low revs and drive like a nun on a Sunday afternoon until it goes out, depends on the ambient temperature at the time.

←

Now as you can tell I really dont know much about cars (Im learning!) but why do you drive carefully while the engine is still cold? What difference does it make?

Heather

[T V O R]

The engine oil isn’t protecting the engine and doing all its bits and bobs until it reaches the proper temperature.

Imagine the oil is like treacle when it’s cold, you start up and thrash the engine and all the metal oily bits won’t have the same protection as they would when the oil is warmed up and at optimum temperature.

Basically it’s about looking after your car. The oil is the life blood of your engine!

[happyheather]

Aha. Thanks The Voice Of Reason. :)

I like gaining car knowledge. I too will drive like a nun..

Heather

[T V O R]

I too will drive like a nun..

As long as you don't act like one! :P

I’ve always got a habit of saying that

[Viper_7]

Also, the OIL is also the coolant in the engine...not water like most people think. Water is just very good at absorbing/dissipating heat, thus is used in a heat exchanger, and losing the heat it's exchanged with the oil/engine via the radiator.

When your motors cold...as said the oil is more viscous and thus doesn't lubricate the bit's and bobs and also the bit's and bobs are heating up at different rates to one another, the oil isn't evenly distributing this heat, and it'self varying in temperature.

It's only when your motor is warmed up that everything has reached their optimum operating temperatures.

If you give your car loads of right foot when she's cold then those bits that warm up fast...do so very quickly...leaving those bits that heat up slower...cooler...not making for a happy engine.

This is also why you shouldn't sit with a car idling for long to warm it up in the morning..it's best to drive away as soon as saftly possible...all that thick oil just sits in the sump...and doesn't get thrown around the bits and bobs as well as it does when your moving.

Vipes

Vipes