Adam,

I have one of these on my '82. It's a VDO, and senses the temp of the
cylinder head at the spark plug hole. On a scale of 0 - 600 degs F, I think
the needle needs to go no higher than 300 degs. F.

My experience has been that normal operating temps range from 200 - 250
deg. F. My slightly modified 2.1L runs cooler than its stock counterpart
used to, and this probably has to do with a slightly too rich mixture to
attempt to improve driveability (gas mileage is also a bit less than
stock).

But the temp reading is more of a way to gauge relative temperatures during
operation, as well as to detect when you are running too lean. One
disadvantage of this type of gauge is that it measures temp in only one
place. If you have a lean condition that is cylinder-specific, and it's
affecting the cylinder with the sensor attached to it, you will not really
know about it. The cylinder head temp sensor is good for monitoring general
lean conditions, however.

Dan

Puzerewski wrote:

> I have a cylinder head temp gauge on my 81, and would like to know what
> range of temps I should know to be normal.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> Adam Puzerewski
> 81 westy
> 74 beetle
> 86 cabrio
> Vanagon Partsmobiles