"Normal" Temperature Operating Range
 

I have a 3.0 and I'm trying to find info on the "normal" coolant temperature range. I put my scanner on and drove around for awhile. Around town the temp varies up and down between about 192 and 204 with spikes to 206. When I jump on the freeway and get up to about 80 mph the temp drops to about 180. The first time I checked this it dropped to 176. The temp then fluctuates between 180 and 190/192 while on the freeway. Is this normal? Seems like the t-stat is allowing about 20 to 30 degree variation. That seems pretty big to me, but I'm no expert.

That’s pretty normal. You can unlock your obc. Link in my sig. you can monitor coolant temp right on your dash.

Yes, the point of the heated thermostat is to allow the DME to vary the temp.

Interesting. I didn't realize it was heated. I thought the stat would try to keep the temperature in a narrow range for fuel mileage and emissions. :dunno:

The goal is to keep combustions temperatures down to reduce Nox emissions with out using a troublesome EGR valve and also try to keep some fuel efficiency. It actually works well doing that. If you recode your temp gauge to what Overboost suggests you can actually see that working as well as monitor when you aux fan cuts in if you take off your mechanical fan for the winter like I do.

Thanks. I live in "sunny California" so I don't have to pull my fan. Rare is the time it gets to 32f around here.

That's a Great idea to remove the mechanical fan! I'm going to start doing that! I've blocked my fan from moving and I've put cardboard in front of the radiator to help warm the engine (or get csbin heat when the t-stat failed open)


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Thermostat Not Opening
 

Hi Everyone,
2004 X5, 3.0i
During driving, the heat is nice and hot, but at idle, the heat is reduce quite a bit.
I bled the coolant couple of times following all the guidelines. I changed the thermostat. I checked it with coolant before installing, it did open at 97 degrees Celsius or 207 F, and that's what it says on the body of the thermostat. In fact it opened at higher than those values because test was done at atmospheric pressure.
The bottom radiator hose is always cool, even after hours of driving. I guess because of this bleeding is always incomplete. I checked the coolant temperature during driving, it hardly gets to 207.
So heater still not getting to the right temperature.
Any guidance will be much appreciated.
Thanks,

Scan it and look for a heater control valve code or auxiliary water pump code.

Thanks for your response.
I have scanned and have no such codes. I do have CIL, but it's related to O2 sensors.