Coolant temp gauge oddity

[Valsport]

The coolant temp gauge on my 2011 Tahoe 5.3 always starts off at 150 degrees even when starting cold in the morning, and after an hour or two sitting turned off it is immediately at 190. The gauge does drop to zero when the truck is turned off.

[markw8]

It is probably normal.

 

Mark

[SouthCo]

Did it always do that? It's not normal. Take it in.

[Sir Dan]

Lowest point on my temp gauge is 160 deg. so that's where it starts off and goes to around the 210 mark when warmed up. Your truck won't cool all the way back down in just a couple hours so if it reads higher at that point, I'd say it's normal. Just FYI, these newer vehicles have gauges that are really only glorified idiot lights that display whatever the computer tells them, not a direct reading from the engine block like the old days.