I recently bought a 2000 D2 and am chasing a heating issue(?) The car heats up to operating temp really quickly and I can't tell if I'm just sensitive to the temp gauge bc of everything I've read on here...or if the car is having some sort of cooling issue.

What I've noticed since I started keeping an eye on temps:
My Ultra Gauge has my engine temp at 66.2°F immediately at start up. Is this normal?
The temp reads halfway on the analog gauge in 0.6 miles / ~10 minutes. Is this an issue?
Temp has never gone above 194.6°F while in motion
Highest temp I saw it at was about 204°F while idling in the desert
During normal driving in sub 100°F weather the UG ranges from 184.6-186.4

 

There are much smarter people on here than me but that sounds like all is good. I’ve replaced everything in my cooling system, added oil cooler and inline thermostat and your doing better than I am !

 

That helps calm the ol brain haha, thanks! It's got all of these weird electrical issues that I'm slowly tackling but figured I should focus on this just in case it's the head gasket about to peace out.

 

This forum is great but can also make you worry about everything that could go wrong. Speaking of electrical issues same here. My fuse 2 found to keep blowing. Causing multiple codes. Something must have got pinched at some point. Always something !

 

Temps look good. At startup your gauge will register whatever the ambient temperature the truck is at (well, actually a little lower since the air heats up faster than the stuff in the air). It does seem to get up to temp a little fast but that’s not much to worry about, just got to worry about the maximum temperatures and it looks like you’re doing OK there. I would be remiss if I didn’t throw out a plug for Extinct’s Inline thermostat mod, easy to do and the best $100 I’ve spent on the truck. Highly recommended.

 

Another plug for the Extinct mod. Mine with the stock setup overhauled was very close to what you have. 204 I think is max open for stock which is where mine would usually top out unless idling for extended periods. What was always unnerving where the random spikes to 210-212+. Which is still in stock spec but caused small anxiety attacks since they happened at random. Now with the mod I hardly ever see 190 and the temp usually drop at idle vs climb and I don't feel the need to watch the UG temp # all the time.

 

Those are good temps if you have not changed over to one of the "desert" thermostats which open at 180* instead of the 190* which were factory issue.

 

What codes are you throwing? Fuse 2 is engine/O2 sensor related.

 

Quick add -

The temp reads halfway on the analog gauge in 0.6 miles / ~10 minutes. Is this an issue? This is considered a worthless gauge. It will sit dead in the middle until your engine melts into a puddle at which time it will show red. The back story is car manufacturers engineer these to never move unless way hot so the consumer sees consistency and feels good. They swing to red at like 240 deg. which is bad. I think your cooling system is working great but would still recommend the Extinct mod.

 

It's true about the stock gage. It reads three temps. Cold, Good, and melted engine. On my 1977 Fiat Spider, I can actually see the gage fluctuate depending on what the car is doing. Going down the road, it stays more or less in the middle. idle for a while, you can watch it slowly rise till the electric fan kicks in and cools it back down.