XC70: General Should the speedo needles light up?

[Olaf Els]

Originally Posted by apersson850

Volvo took it away because some owners, usually Americans, took the car to the workshop and wanted it fixed if the needle was a millimeter off from their previous car's, or the neighbor's car, or differed between summer and winter.......

It's still lying, though.

Well put. You are absolutely correct about 'lying' coolant temperature gauges. I believe the technical term is 'highly damped'. Those factory fitted to many cars are so 'highly damped' as to be completely useless. On some vehicles the overheating can be so severe as to crack the cylinder head, yet the gauge hasn't reacted. I own such a vehicle, and I've fitted a second gauge which I have calibrated.

Of course both the barely legible speedo and the lack of a temperature gauge can both the solved by the addition of a cheap HUD, as I mentioned earlier. So two birds with one stone.

[Tannaton]

I disagree strongly that the temprature reading is manipulated on the display to hide minor fluctuations....

In the past 3 years I've worked on a 2007 V50 (2.0D), 2010 V50 (D5), 2013 V40 (D3) & 2013 V70 (D5) (with both traditional, mechanical guages and TFT) that have had issues which manifest in varying temperatures and found the gauge reading to be proportional to the degrees C reading from the coolant temperature sensor in VIDA.

On my own XC60 on my way to work I have a long descent of about 3 miles where you almost don't touch the accelerator, on a winters morning the temp guage is usually about 2/3 to mid at the top of the descent and the temperature actually falls as the heater is pumping our more heat than the engine produces. You can see this on the gauge.

None of this points to "smoothing".

[apersson850]

I happen to know people who have worked for Volvo with this. So yes, it's lying, but in a clever way. They do indicate things that are easy to explain. Like coasting downhill in cold weather.

[Kev0607]

So is there an option on a Volvo that hasn't got a temperature gauge, like an aftermarket accessory?

[apersson850]

I have an ELM 327 Bluetooth adapter to plug into the OBD II port. Then the Torque application in my phone.
That combo allows for checking the temperature, and several other things too.

[reggit]

I use a Wi-Fi eml327 and EngineLink on my iPhone. Works well enough to diagnose a failed thermostat and shows it’s now at the correct temperature after replacing it.

[V70Zig]

Originally Posted by apersson850

I have an ELM 327 Bluetooth adapter to plug into the OBD II port. Then the Torque application in my phone.
That combo allows for checking the temperature, and several other things too.

Originally Posted by reggit

I use a Wi-Fi eml327 and EngineLink on my iPhone. Works well enough to diagnose a failed thermostat and shows it’s now at the correct temperature after replacing it.

Either or...and the Car Scanner app works as well too.