Quote:
Originally Posted by Burnt
that being said, my '09 cobalt doesn't have a temperature guage...instead one of the readout options is the temperature of the coolant...
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Could you elaborate on what this readout is? Is it something like a ScanGauge, giving you an actual temperature value? If so, it's probably pretty accurate. Temperature gauges, OTOH, I've never found to be more than ballpark accurate, if that.
For what temperature to run at... Well, I'm not familiar with the Cobalt at all, but on the Insight (the only car I have that's new enough for a ScanGauge to work) normal operating temperature is the 195 F thermostat opening, and on fairly flat roads and outside temps below 100 or so, it seldom goes more than a degree or two above that. It takes a mountain climb - say 4000 ft of 6% grade - to get it up to 210 F, and given that the top of the climb is about 9000 ft, I don't like to see it go over that. I've never seen it hit 220 F. If it did, I would stop and let the engine cool.
Maybe I'm overly conservative, but that's my $0.02 worth.