I have an IR thermometer I bought for $65 that reads from -58F to
almost 1000 degrees.  I aim it at the night sky and it reads -58F
!!.  The hottest it's registered on my wood stove flue last winter
was about 700F.  Although these readings are to the extreme ends of
the scale, I have often wondered how accurate the readings are in
automotive usage.  If you aim the beam at a radiator hose, I'm sure
it's giving you an accurate reading on the rubber hose temp. but
wouldn't the coolant inside the hose be even hotter(at operating
temperature anyway)?  I believe the gun has uses for comparative
temp. values like checking the difference in areas of a radiator and
the hoses before and after the thermostat, but I fail to see how we
can say for sure that a temp gauge is inaccurate when we're not
measuring the actual coolant.  My water temp VDO gauge reads high
because I have a 150C gauge and I'm pretty sure I have a 250F sending unit.
YMMV

DM&FS

At 05:02 AM 7/7/2008, Frank Condelli wrote:
>In a message dated 06/07/2008 11:26:02 A.M. Central Standard Time,
>LISTSERV@GERRY.VANAGON.COM writes:
>
>IR guns  locally are expensive, so I'm hoping the Vanagon gauge will
>suffice for  now.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>Do  you not have a Princess Auto there ?  They have some pretty good cheap
>ones. You can always order from their online site or call head office in
>Winnipeg.
>_Click  here: Princess Auto official website - Princess Auto serves Barrie,
>Ontario  Canada and is found in BarrieDirect.info_
>(http://members.barriedirect.info/Princess_Auto-I/website/)
>
>Cheers,
>
>Frank  Condelli
>Almonte, Ontario, Canada
>'87 Westy & Lionel Trains (_Collection for sale_
>(http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/trainsal.htm) )
>_Frank Condelli &  Associates_ (http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/busindex.html)
>- Vanagon/Vanagon Westfalia Service in the Ottawa Valley
>_Vanagon Stainless Steel Exhaust  Systems_
>(http://members.aol.com/Fkc43/exhaust.htm)
>_BusFusion_ (http://members.aol.com/BusFusion/bfhome.htm)  a VW Camper
>camping event, Almonte, ON, June 12 ~ 15,  2008