[nUcLeArEnVoY]

Another thing here is our interpretation of what's hot and what's not...

Has anybody actually seen these temps keep rising into critical territory (i.e. 230+) when idling, at which point it's acceptable to deem it as a problem? 220 is up there but it's still in the range of normal operating temperature. Hell, it's smack dab in the middle of my particular car's temp gauge. It's summer and we are talking about dense, humid air in 90+ degree ambient temp. I think if our temps are creeping to 200, 210 but slow down or stop there, we are doing okay, all things considered. I know it's not ideal for carbed engines, plus with the volatility of modern fuels, but sometimes there's no amount of cooling capacity you can toss in that will trump thermodynamics.

I have a feeling most of these cars ran warmer when new than we allow them to run now. Not because they were not taken care of, but when new, they were just regular everyday cars that most owners didn't coddle or glue their eyes on the temp gauge 24/7 while driving. They probably weren't even paying attention. Modern cars, assuming they're even equipped with a temp gauge, are HEAVILY dampened now as to not frighten owners by showing the normal fluctuations in temp as they drive - they just stay around the middle of the gauge no matter what unless they are legitimately overheating. The service manual will even specify that hot running and overheating can occur during extended idling, so by virtue of how these car's cooling systems were designed may make it difficult to prevent them from getting toasty during extended idling. The thing is, 200-220 is not overheating, lol. It's not even running "hot." Hot is once you get over 220. Idiot lights for such-equipped cars don't even turn on till' 260.

Don't get me wrong, I love seeing the needle on my car rarely ever even pass the first "160 degree" peg (which is what I've always interpreted it as), and I'm not trying to advocate to just say screw it, let them go and potentially overheat, either. Just maybe, since it's summer and hot af out... cut these cars, and ourselves, some slack. If the temp creep slows down or stops at 210 or 215 or whatever, I'd say that's okay.

I dunno, don't mind me. Lol