Overcooling on stock set up?

[phill 92]

Hello again!

I'm sure all the UK forums are full of people with overheating worries atm but my worry is the opposite, i'll start from the beginning:

Right my car has an aftermarket autogauge water temp gauge, when purchasing the car, back when it was cold, it used to run at 55C, since driving daily for 3 months and with the weather getting warmer its started to climb sitting at around 60 now. Out of interest i pressed the peak button on the gauge and it said 75C so i assumed that's the hottest its got and i don't really want to go near that but yesterday it was running at 70C with relaxed driving. So anyway being the overly cautious person i am i sort of over reacted and got the car home and done a coolant flush admittedly it wasn't the most thorough flush, going to do it properly at the weekend! So i took it for a spin and had it back down to 60C, Anyway my old man got in from work after i had done everything and i explained everything to him he just laughed at me saying im an idiot for not checking running temps and that it in fact sounds like an average running temp!

Soo i went straight to Google, 4AGE running temps and everyone has a different opinion! someone was sayin 90-110C running temp others 60 and all in-between with 60 being the safe temp you can start thrashing it! Mine was running at 55ish when i bought it! was it over cooling? Everything is stock engine and coolant wise! and it still needs a decent flush which could reduce temps further!

What does your 16v run at? My standard temp gauge sits at the E in the word TEMP regardless of it being 40C or 70C so i dont really trust it!

Cheers!