Temp Needle notch behind half way mark

[Arran]

Hi,
My temp needle does not reach half way mark at any time. It sits just behind the half way mark and does not move from there. Should I be worried?

The car drives fine apart from a plume of blue smoke on start up which then goes after a couple of mins.

Thanks for any advice. Its an 04 later engined 3.0d which has recently had an insp 2 sevice.

[Phil D]

Sounds like your thermostat is stuck open. Shouldn't be a big job.

[Rusty]

Mine only gets to just about half way, so I wouldn't be bothered too much. Does it take long to get there? Only questions if it takes a while would be
1) Is the thermostat working
2) Is the Webasto working

If it warms up quite quickly, then all is good.

Hth

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk 2

[X5Sport]

Has it suddenly gone there, or always been like that? How far away from the centre is it sitting? If not far and everything else OK then should be nothing.

If yours is smoking though, that does need a look at. Check that it hasn't been overfilled with oil. Mine only ever gave a small puff of smoke when cold started and that's all. I could get it to smoke if I absolutely floored the throttle - but it was only visible in the headlights of the car behind. Steam when cold yes, smoke no.

Have you had, or have you changed the crankcase breather at all? Probably worth doing if it hasn't been. It's not part of a normal service routine as far as I know. Can be DIY - how to's on the forum and with piccies..

[Sanj]

Mine behaves exactly like that and it's an 04.

Nothing to worry about.

[gareth82]

Mine sits between a quater and half way ever since I owned it, I had a new thermostat fitted and it made no difference

[shadrack]

[quote=""gareth82""]Mine sits between a quater and half way ever since I owned it, I had a new thermostat fitted and it made no difference[/quote]
I think there is another thermostat on or near the egr, a car running cold though it will never overheat it will use more fuel running cold it should sit at bang on half all the time as all bmws do

[fenj66]

Where does the needle rest when the engine is cold?
If it's below the zero mark then its prob just out of sync.
Mine rests cold above the first mark and when hot rests just over the middle.

[CondorX5]

It takes absolutely ages for my 4.8 to get to warm Oil Temp - its got the Alpina type gauges with Oil Temp gauge at the bottom of the dash and the lights that go out slowly as the engine warms up - I guess the car is really meant for long journeys, taking it out on short local trips hardly warms up the oil or the engine! Performance is great though, I think its normal for it to run that way. At least it doesn't overheat.

[Turks]

Condor... its a good excuse to go the long way and enjoy the drive just to see the lights go out and know the engine is warmed through

I don't know if they are Alpina style but the dials are definitely M3 / M5 with the lights.


Turks.

[CondorX5]

They're good aren't they Turks I do like watching the lights on the gauge go out Sad.

Not heard much from you in a while - hows the pizza menu and the chippie going