Does Temp Gauge ever move off 190?

I'm noticing some possible similarities between the gauges of my new Passat and my past Ford Trucks. Ford truck owners were surprized to learn that the temperature gauge was misleading -- in that it acted as expected during the warm-up period -- but that, once up to temperature, the gauge -- by design -- never moved off of the 'normal' position -- until and except the engine overheated -- which then caused the needle to go to the 'overheat' range.

My 2-month-old Tradewind's temp gauge never moves off of the 190 position -- and when monitoring the OBD-II with an AutoXray tool -- the temperature reported is nowhere near the 190 reported/indicated on the gauge.

Sooooooooo...

Has anyone ever actually done a temperature test of the temperature gauge?

Ford, apparently wishing to avoid questions like: "Gee, my temperature gauge went up a little yesterday in the Mojave Desert, Is my radiator correct?", changed their gauge so that it merely looked like an analog gauge -- but was effectively a stationary gauge with a needle -- once reaching 'normal' operating temp.

Oh, by the way, Ford's Oil Pressure gauge was (at least on my 97 and Y2K trucks) truly an on/off indicator -- which was also confirmed to be on at pressures of somewhere around 5 PSIG and above.



<![CDATA[I'm noticing some possible similarities between the gauges of my new Passat and my past Ford Trucks. Ford truck owners were surprized to learn that the temperature gauge was misleading -- in that it acted as expected during the warm-up period -- but that, once up to temperature, the gauge -- by design -- never moved off of the 'normal' position -- until and except the engine overheated -- which then caused the needle to go to the 'overheat' range.

My 2-month-old Tradewind's temp gauge never moves off of the 190 position -- and when monitoring the OBD-II with an AutoXray tool -- the temperature reported is nowhere near the 190 reported/indicated on the gauge.

Sooooooooo...

Has anyone ever actually done a temperature test of the temperature gauge?

Ford, apparently wishing to avoid questions like: "Gee, my temperature gauge went up a little yesterday in the Mojave Desert, Is my radiator correct?", changed their gauge so that it merely looked like an analog gauge -- but was effectively a stationary gauge with a needle -- once reaching 'normal' operating temp.

Oh, by the way, Ford's Oil Pressure gauge was (at least on my 97 and Y2K trucks) truly an on/off indicator -- which was also confirmed to be on at pressures of somewhere around 5 PSIG and above.



[Modified by '03 Tradewind, 1:57 PM 11/26/2002]