Hey guys my 88 SE seems to run really cool. the needle on the gauge never seems to get more than 1/4 of the way up, even after repeated redlines. Is this normal or is my gauge bad? I believe it is the stock radiator with all the stock components, the car is completely stock. Is ok for my engine to run this cool, or does it need to get warmer to run more efficiently? I am getting like 16 miles to the gallon, but that is probably unrelated. Thanks in advance.

 

I've got three of these things and they all run a quarter or less. I have a real mechanical gauge connected to one and with the 180 degree thermostat, it reads, guess what? 180 degrees with the needle less than a quarter. The gas thing. Could be a heavy foot, which is normal. Or it could be a slightly defective 02 sensor. 16 around town is'nt bad. More or less close to normal. Not an economy car atall. I had a E-type that got better milage.

 

Thanks for the help Hailers, I was just wondering about the temperature thing after I read somewhere that putting in a lower temp thermostat was not good for the engine, and the guy that had this car before me was a goof ball(he managed to break every plastic interior piece on the car, but I did not notice until like a month after I bought when I started tearing into the car) , so I figured if it was running to cool he probably did that being that he is a huge dumb ***. But i guess he left it alone.