Gas-Powered Awesome
Elio Addict
Show me a modern mass-produced car that has an oil temp gauge.
Show me a modern mass-produced car that has an accurate coolant temp gauge clearly marked with actual linear temperature values.
(Notable exceptions are high-dollar, high-power sports cars aimed at enthusiasts.)
The dirty secret is the gauges on new (and even old) mass-produced cars are extremely non-linear at-best, and outright fake in some cases. By the time the temp gauge begins to climb past the middle the engine is already cooked. They are meant to be idiot lights, which the cars also still have.
The reason for this, my theory is, is that most Americans have absolutely no clue what the gauges are supposed to do, but they still want them because they are "cool" and "sporty". When gauges were real, drivers would go back to the dealers and complain that the oil pressure was really high when it was cold, and really low when it was warm, and would move up and down and all around while driving, oh my! Same with the water temperature gauge.
Automakers got tired of it so now the gauges are effectively fake. The water temp gauge usually starts to climb at 150 and will stay basically in the center from 180 to 230-ish, then the gauge will top out at 250. But of course no actual temperature numbers on the gauge.
There are actually newer cars out there with oil pressure gauges on the dash, but no actual pressure sender, just a pressure switch. If there is enough pressure to activate the switch, the gauge goes to just an 1/8 past the middle and sits there. By design! Fraudulent in my opinion.
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