2.5DSE 1996-97 temp gauge

Heyooooo! The beast has sat still for approx 2 weeks due to issues and waiting for parts, and yesterday i changed a U joint at the front propshaft (towards transfer box)

I've recently had the intake manifold of, and both coolant temp contacts off and on.

I took it out for a 5km drive now, and the temp gauge went up to the red after it stayed solid middle for 3-4 min.
It went from middle to top red in about 2-3 seconds, i reved the engine and it went down dunno why. I stopped after like 15 seconds, and i took the car off and pulled out the nanocom, the coolant were 94 degrees, so i suppose it didnt really overheat? Just a faulty coolant sensor? I've heard theres a green one and a white/yellow/black one? I do have 1 black and 1 white/transparent in stock at home.
I am going on a 2000km road trip trough the weekend, so any tips?

I've recently also emptied the radiator and put in new coolant, same color and its a 50/50 mix, red.
Ive done as rave says, open cap and 2000idle rpm and put in coolant all the way to the cold level.

I also changed heater matrix o rings before this happend, so i pulled both of the hoses on heater matrix off and coolant obviously came out, so i've filled abit up.

Maybe the beast was mad i woke it up?

I drove the car home after i waited 20 min (all went fine, coolant at middle), and before so i filled up like 0.5DL at max.

Gonna check the coolant level when its cooled properly down.
If im not wrong, isn't the cold level supposed to rise up higher when its warm?? bcus it was at cold level while warm. Note i checked all the hoses and they were all normal hot.

Might this just be an airlock?

Thanks for answers in advance.

Sounds like an air lock , can be a barsteward to burp some times

Rubberknees said:

Sounds like an air lock , can be a barsteward to burp some times

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Any tips burping it out? appart from opening the reservoar cap and reving at idle? ive heard i can unplug the bleeding at top of radiator but that its quite messy and will spill alot of coolant?

synchro said:

Any tips burping it out? appart from opening the reservoar cap and reving at idle? ive heard i can unplug the bleeding at top of radiator but that its quite messy and will spill alot of coolant?

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Run the front up some ramps or park it nose up on a hill,make sure you have flow from the small pipe from the radiator to the expansion tank.

tomcat59alan said:

Run the front up some ramps or park it nose up on a hill,make sure you have flow from the small pipe from the radiator to the expansion tank.

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Beat me to to it Alan. Cheers pal

I have a feeling the Nanocom gets the temp from 1 sensor and the guage gets it from the other. Cannot remember if it goes into cold if grounded.

Hey again, tried to fill up abit. Might still have an airlock. I took it for a drive, approx 40KM.

After 10-15KM it went up
To red, i reved it up for 2 seconds its
Down to middle again. Drove another 10km and it happend again, note im driving in 60 to 80km/h, ac dosnt work so its not on. (Book symbol)

I’ve recently had both heater matrix hoses off.

it also happend once, when i braked down from 60 to 30, it basically goes from 12 a clock right into red in 3-5 seconds.
It just confuses me that if i rev the engine it sometimes will go down. Also, what is the coreect operating temperature on the 2.5DSE? Normal driving, say a few hills up and down. It’s 90, am i correct?
Ive recorded it at 94.5 at max. (Gauge red)

Do i still have air lock symptoms or am i in need of waterpump, viscous fan, or belt/pulleys or something?
Note my car has always been 12 o clock or just just under (11.5) at the temp gauge.

this all happpend after i loosened my heater matrix hoses when doing heater matrix orings (sucsessfully i believe due to no leakage)


I really want to know if my car will handle my 2000km weekend trip. Im maximum driving 500km a day, appart from 1000 at one day perhaps.

shall i still drive it uphill/car ramp and burp it from the radiator bleed hose or opening the cap at the car ramp?


anyone else had this issue? It does not have any power issues, aka in throttle or power.

I will also drag a 750kg hanger after my car at the trip.

About my previous post saying hanger, i didnt find any other translates. Its the thing behind the car who magically follows the car when tied up to the cars ball
Am i rigth in saying hanger?? Gotta learn some english here too

synchro said:

About my previous post saying hanger, i didnt find any other translates. Its the thing behind the car who magically follows the car when tied up to the cars ball
Am i rigth in saying hanger?? Gotta learn some english here too

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Trailer or if you can sleep in it then it's a caravan and the cars ball is the tow hitch.

tomcat59alan said:

Trailer or if you can sleep in it then it's a caravan and the cars ball is the tow hitch.

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i knew i had it far back in my head somewhere

synchro said:

i knew i had it far back in my head somewhere

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You mean in the back of your mind.

tomcat59alan said:

You mean in the back of your mind.

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back to topic, if i bleed the system on a car ramp, should i open the expansion cap or unplug bleed hose?

synchro said:

back to topic, if i bleed the system on a car ramp, should i open the expansion cap or unplug bleed hose?

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Yes.

I drove home the same route by the way. All went good for 40km until the last ever red ligth, i semi stopped aka glided for 10 seconds ish. It went up very small but not close to red. I guess it really must be airlock then??

Sounds like you've not bled it correctly. If you follow Rave it shouldn't take more than 20 minutes to fully purge the cooling system.

synchro said:

Hey again, tried to fill up abit. Might still have an airlock. I took it for a drive, approx 40KM.

After 10-15KM it went up
To red, i reved it up for 2 seconds its
Down to middle again. Drove another 10km and it happend again, note im driving in 60 to 80km/h, ac dosnt work so its not on. (Book symbol)

I’ve recently had both heater matrix hoses off.

it also happend once, when i braked down from 60 to 30, it basically goes from 12 a clock right into red in 3-5 seconds.
It just confuses me that if i rev the engine it sometimes will go down. Also, what is the coreect operating temperature on the 2.5DSE? Normal driving, say a few hills up and down. It’s 90, am i correct?
Ive recorded it at 94.5 at max. (Gauge red)

Do i still have air lock symptoms or am i in need of waterpump, viscous fan, or belt/pulleys or something?
Note my car has always been 12 o clock or just just under (11.5) at the temp gauge.

this all happpend after i loosened my heater matrix hoses when doing heater matrix orings (sucsessfully i believe due to no leakage)


I really want to know if my car will handle my 2000km weekend trip. Im maximum driving 500km a day, appart from 1000 at one day perhaps.

shall i still drive it uphill/car ramp and burp it from the radiator bleed hose or opening the cap at the car ramp?


anyone else had this issue? It does not have any power issues, aka in throttle or power.

I will also drag a 750kg hanger after my car at the trip.

Click to expand...

The little dinky hose at the top of the rad to the expansion tank should be clear if you blow down it. The diesel isn't as tricky as the v8 to bleed although some stats can make it harder. Read posts on here about the hole at 12 o'clock onnthe stat. Water pumps have been known to fail, particularly the OEM one with plastic blades - most people swap it for one with metal vanes. Can you hear the viscous fan? Should roar on startup, quieten down and then roar again as the guage climbs towards the red. If it isn't then get it hot and try to stop the viscous fan with a rolled up newspaper - if it stops it is bust. Does the expansion tank keep repressurising if you release the pressure once hot?

I believe my viscous fan runs 24/7 or atleast at start up i know it runs. i assume its the viscous fan roaring like a bear at upphills?

it really roars uphill.. i cant say ive not seen the viscous fan at stand still, but i havent really seen if it were off at the times it is supposed to be off? When are thoose times anyhow?

Also, ive got some steep downhill and uphills one is 4km long straigth up and down. Should i strict it to 3rd both up and down? It is a quite steep and long 4km one… i am going from a light sports car to this huge bear so i tough it might need some caution?

synchro said:

I believe my viscous fan runs 24/7 or atleast at start up i know it runs. i assume its the viscous fan roaring like a bear at upphills?

it really roars uphill.. i cant say ive not seen the viscous fan at stand still, but i havent really seen if it were off at the times it is supposed to be off? When are thoose times anyhow?

Also, ive got some steep downhill and uphills one is 4km long straigth up and down. Should i strict it to 3rd both up and down? It is a quite steep and long 4km one… i am going from a light sports car to this huge bear so i tough it might need some caution?

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It is never off, as such, but about minute or so after startup it should go quiet and stay quiet unless the temperature climbs. If it never stops roaring then it may well be seized.

Grrrrrr said:

It is never off, as such, but about minute or so after startup it should go quiet and stay quiet unless the temperature climbs. If it never stops roaring then it may well be seized.

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Then i think the fan is good.
I am going to bleed the beast before my journey and see the results, ill post here if i get any issues or when my trip is over and its been sucsessfull without problems.

heyo, im 80km into my journey, and experienced a few up hills which makes the rangie goes up to 95celsius. The temp gauge is not at red but towards the outer white marker. Note that i put my heater on max and fans on full power.

is 95celsius Ok at uphills? I’m not even towing anything…
I also noticed when i slide downhills my temp stays between 75-85. Even on flats the car might reach 95celsius all of the sudden.

it idles okay, and does not exceed 90 at idling.

am i in need of a new thermostat and waterpump soon? Still got 1000km to go, at minimum. Max 1500. Both my gearbox radiator and radiator does have some flies and common dust and some oil spill on.

I am gonna ask if my friends has a heat camera to look if my radiator is blocked or something. I heard thats common on theese cars.

i did not bleed the car on ramps. What i did:
Took of cap, and squeshed both the radiator hoses om the top, and i saw coolant coming out from the bleeding hose in expansion tank.

I will also try to bleed the car on a ramp when i reach my friends later today.
Procedure is just to remove top bleed hose, and drive it up on a ramp and let engine be on untill theres a good flow of coolant out of the hose right?

it cant be normal that the rangie is 95 celsius possibly higher up a hill without a trailer in the back. I dont even have 60kg payload.