96 Svt Cobra Water Temp Guage Reading

larry pirtle

New Member
Jul 20, 2013
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Ok guys im new to this and im going to sound a bit stupid but......my son and i looked at a 96 SVT Cobra this morning for a possible purchase. One thing that was pointed out to me is that the car had a aftermarket full aluminum race radiator and looked fairly new. One thing I noticed on the test drive that the water temp gauge (factory settings with no numbers just L-H) climbed to 3/4 of the way to the H. Further, when we stopped at a red light the gauge did climb closer to the H and once we got rolling again it started dropping back to the 3/4's mark and stayed there. He explained that 96 Cobras are notorious for running hot and that was the normal operating temp. Its been hot here in the Midwest and the temp when we ran was probably around mid 80's. We did take the car for a fairly long ride (around 30 mins). Any ideas? Should the temp gauge read that high while running? and is it normal to fluctuate when stopping/starting? According to his ad (and what he told us on site) it has a K & N cold air intake system, Riesch performance 160 degree thermostat. So im wondering is the guage supposed to stay that high during normal operation?
 
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160 degree thermostat, it should be running towards the cold end of things. Sounds like either the gauge is wrong, or the cooling system has an issue. The temperature also should not fluctuate once it's warm. Mid 80's is not that hot....