Len

Hey everyone,

I bought a 2008 caliber srt4 on June 28th. Its been driving it like it should but today the engine temperature gauge has become quite erratic. It fluctuates quite drastically from just below 1/2 to just above 3/4 at idle. Prior to today the temperature gauge warmed up to just under 1/2 and stayed put. It has 500 km on it and I took it in to the dealership today and they couldn't fault it and said that as long as the needle stays within the the scale on the gauge its considered 'normal operating temperature' and they can do nothing about it. What do you think??

BigDaddySRT

A/C on? or Off?

Sitting Still? or Moving in Traffic with open airflow to the radiator?


Turbo cars will get Hot just sitting... it's just a nature of the beast.
It should cool fairly well once you are moving again.

__________________
SRT Track Experience Autocross Champion - TMS
2008 Caliber SRT-4 Sunburst
Blue Plate Special
ED Intake
Recaro Baby Seat
2005 Suzuki SV1000S
1997 Neon ACR Challenge Car
McKenna Cage and all that jazz

Len

Sitting still - slowly climbs to just above 3/4
Driving - quickly lowers to 1/2

This happens during normal driving without boost. The dealership mentioned when A/C on, it runs cooler.

It just started happening today - after almost 2 weeks of normal needle position. The only thing I changed recently was filling up on premium gas - Petro Canada gas 91 octane (which I did yesterday but the problem started this morning).

Customer service mentioned they have had other complaints like mine. Currently no recalls.

SUNBURSTORANGE08

I have been having the same problem and i find that when you turn the A/C on the temperature drops it is just turbo heat remeber even when there is no boost the turbo is still spooling so it is creating heat through friction ..........if it goes over 3/4 take it back to the dealership.

HIGHBRED8

srt is known for this. its very common and also very normal. its an accurate gauge. instead of telling you hey your in a safe area you way too hot, or im cold dont beat on me, the gauge will show you exactly what is actually happening.

in a regular car, the gauge moves up and down minimally unless something is wrong once your at operating temps, with the srt the gauge moves as the temp does. it gets a bit hotter because your in traffic, then the gauge goes up, your getting tons of air flow while your moving the gauge goes down. simple as that, it was the same with the nsrt. its a good thing, this way the you actually see whats going on in as close to realtime as possible.

think of it this way if you had a a/f gauge that said lean, little lean, normal, little rich, rich, youd have an idea of how much fuel you have or need, but if your gauge says 11.5 or 10.2 or 13.7 you know exactly what your air fuels are and can have much better data to work with.

in short if its fluctuating a lot its doing its job.

(this is not my opinion, this is actually what the gauge is doing in a nut shell.)

BigDaddySRT

When the A/C is on.... the ECM automatically keeps the fans on longer duration to help dissipate the heat created from the coompressor.

__________________
SRT Track Experience Autocross Champion - TMS
2008 Caliber SRT-4 Sunburst
Blue Plate Special
ED Intake
Recaro Baby Seat
2005 Suzuki SV1000S
1997 Neon ACR Challenge Car
McKenna Cage and all that jazz

HIGHBRED8

if you guys check out the past csrt chat sessions, even in old nsrt chat sessions with the engineers they explain it. the gauge reflects changes in temp much more accurately than standard gauges and if more sensitive to smaller changes. anything from standing still, rolling slow, fast etc, fans on longer will sow a change as opposed to a normal gauge where it it wont the minimal change.

SRT4Life

my temp has sometimes reached 3/4 at idle...in the shade...on a cool day. it was very weird. i thought i broke something.

blackbeastsrt4

Same problem here. I don't worry too much because I know turbos heat up too much...and cause it to heat a little bit above normal temperature. If it gets too hot I just turn on the A/C.