The gauges on more modern cars are virtually useless. On my new Tahoe. There are no numbers. Just little tick marks. Completely useless. A nice gauge with an actual temperature reading would be nice. I would even like a digital readout of the data. They could easily do this, but they don't do it for a reason, and it's not a consumer friendly reason.
Anyone coolant gauge ever do this? Am I being picky?
- Thread starter iboughtatahoe23
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With the previous generation at least 2015-2020, the coolant gauge is relatively worthless and it does not display actual temperature. However the transmission fluid temperature display within the DIC does appear to be accurate.
As part of a discussion on the other forum gm-trucks.com there was a discussion about thermostats recently. For the previous generation as my Yukon is a 2019, I installed both the "revised" transmission cooler thermostat/bypass which lowers the operating temp of the transmission under typical non-towing loads. And most recently I installed an engine coolant thermostat for the 5.3/6.2 used in the Camaro I believe it is, or possibly a Cadillac, that opens at a lower temperature (194') versus the factory 207' thermostat as well.
My Yukon 5.3L runs at that temp all the time in Florida.
Viewing the engine coolant temperature with a scan tool, the factory analog gauge is inaccurate and typically hovers near 210 degrees even if temperature is only 195 or so, and I'm not sure where on the high end. Take that in to consideration.
the 18th letter
Full Access Member
My ride runs cooler than 210 especially cruising at 70. 
Something doesn't seem right there, or you have an aftermarket thermostat with a much lower temperature installed. Or if you haven't done any work at all - have you removed the thermostat housing from the water pump to inspect it? I would be interested to see a scan tool's reading of this temperature. By the ((inaccurate)) gauge alone it looks to be pointing to around ~185. I bet it's lower than that.
the 18th letter
Full Access Member
I have no idea, been running like that since I got it. Never checked it myself. I did change the TVB to the lower temp one.
I would double check. Also would be interesting to know if your truck is ever reaching closed loop mode depending on how low your operating temperature actually is.
The transmission cooler bypass thermostat should not have any effect at all on your engine coolant temperature.
the 18th letter
Full Access Member
It doesnt. It only affects the temperature of my transmission fluid, which is also runnning lower than most as well. In city stop and go driving both the radiator and transmission fluid see an increase in temps.
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