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2014 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Z71 LT Crew Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.comEdmunds.com Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 10,315
edited September 2014 in Chevrolet

image2014 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 Z71 LT Crew Long-Term Road Test

The engineers at Chevrolet know how to sweat the small stuff. Case in point: the temperature gauge.

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    duck87duck87 Member Posts: 649
    Note also that like most gauges, this isn't very useful- since every tick is a 12.5 deg increment, it's not likely you're going to notice you're having a problem until you hit the 3/4 mark, where you're hitting 235 degrees (most OEM truck engines seem to be designed for max coolant temp targets of 245 deg F or so). If you do manage to end up in the red zone (and it's not hard to not notice), you're REALLY in trouble.
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    zimtheinvaderzimtheinvader Member Posts: 580
    the 3/4 mark is actually quite a bit of movement. Especially if you do like Ed and actually look at the gauge regularly. Movement of even half a tick should be easily noticed and can be watched more closely when in situations that need it.
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    greenponygreenpony Member Posts: 531
    +1 for making sure operating temperature is the center of the gauge. +1 again for giving the gauge actual numbers. Too many coolant temp gauges hang to the cool side of center and have no real values associated with them. For instance, in my Focus the
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    bankerdannybankerdanny Member Posts: 1,021
    Actual numbers are always worth praising, but I can't recall the last time I drove a car with a factory coolant temperature gauge where normal operating temperature, whether indicated by an N or an actual numeral, didn't fall in the middle of the gauge.
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    reminderreminder Member Posts: 383
    My 2005 Trailblazer has the same setup.
    Good idea, but not new.
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    noburgersnoburgers Member Posts: 500
    as they say +1 to that detail
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    mfennellmfennell Member Posts: 91
    Numbers or not, that's an idiot gauge. like greenpony described. Hook an OBDII scanner up and report back the REAL temps. You'll find that it shows "210" for a really wide range. You become so used to it that when you get in a car that reports actual temps, it's a little unnerving at first. They appear to "warm up slow" or "run hot".
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    agentorangeagentorange Member Posts: 893
    Most manufacturers have doctored the response of temperature gauges to the degree that they are just security blankets. I doubt GM are any better. Customers get twitchy when the gauge moved with the normal variations in driving and weather so to calm them down the makers slugged the life out of them.
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    flapsmcgeeflapsmcgee Member Posts: 0
    mfennel and agentorange are correct. The only car I've ever driven that had a real temperature gauge was my 94 Firebird Formula. If I was driving down the highway, the temperature would stay at about 180-185°. However, right when I stopped, the temperature would immediately start to increase until it hit about 210-215°, then the fans would turn on. Then they would turn off again when it got down to about 190-195°. The temperature would actually stay more constant when the A/C was on because it always ran at least 1 of the 2 fans. This was all a little unnerving to watch at first, but it was cool knowing exactly what the car was doing. All cars do this, but they have dummy gauges that just tell you if they are working normally or not.
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    stovt001_stovt001_ Member Posts: 799
    It's not impressive because that's basically a 3-position indicator with left being cold, right being hot, and middle being OK. The gauge may not be moving, but the temps are fluctuating. I had a GM car where the actual real temps could be accessed via a digital readout, and the constant fluctuation, especially in traffic, would be unnerving to many consumers.
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    greenponygreenpony Member Posts: 531
    So if weather variations are unnerving to people, does that mean the weatherman should report 70 degrees and partly cloudy every day, regardless of actual weather? * Note: Those in SoCal may not understand the phrase "weather variations".
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    stovt001_stovt001_ Member Posts: 799
    I'm not saying they *should* make 3-position idiot gauges because small variations unnerve the average consumer, that's just the reason *why* they use 3-position idiot gauges.
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