I just bought a 2024 Nissan Versa and just now noticed it doesn’t have a temperature gauge. Can I buy one? If not, how the heck am II going to know if the radiator is about to overheat? Thanks.
I am guessing that you would get a check engine light.
Check your owners manual, page 2-15… There may be a temperature warning light (if so equipped?).
Turn the car on but don’t crank it… if it has a warning light, it will show in red, the owners manual shows the symbol. If it does not have this symbol, buy an aftermarket coolant temperature gauge (and electrical type) and install it. Or have someone who knows how to install it.
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An OBD-II reader would probably show you that information.
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Yeah it’ll have a warning light, called idiot lights because not many people pay attention to the gauge anymore.
But you can add your own gauges but will have to install the sending unit for them. I always insisted on the gauge package when ordering a car. But when ordered or 86 park ave, in order to get the gauges, I would have needed to buy the $2000 electronic dash. I skipped it and just installed a gauge cluster.
I agree with Bing that the average driver might notice the warning light before an actual gauge.
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My 2015 civic had a blue light for cold engine. I don’t recall if it had a temp gauge.
I’ve got an '03 Prius with the blue light. And I know it has no temp gauge because that annoys me. I’m assuming it has a warning for over temp - heck, it has a warning for everything else.
If you really want to be able to monitor temps while driving, the easiest thing is probably to just get a cheap OBDII bluetooth dongle. Pair that with any number of free OBDII apps and you’ll be good to go. Most of the apps let you arrange a “dashboard” to your liking with basic PIDs. If you do this, you’ll also have a basic code reader for the check engine light.
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Probably no where to add a mechanical coolant temp gauge sensor in the engine…
But a 2 second Google of obd2 gauges shows lots of different choices… Here are just 3 of many stand alone units to keep your phone free…
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Who knew. New tech. Looks like you just plug it into the diagnostics connector?
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That is a good point, I’ll have to say. But I also wonder… You can get a bluetooth dongle for like $15 or so. I’d bet you can use an old phone with one (as in your last one that is now defunct) as a dedicated device. My brother will keep old phones just to use as music storage / players.
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I rented a 2008 Nissan Versa back in 2008. It had a blue temperature light when the engine was cold, when it warmed up there was no light. If it were to overheat the light would turn red.
My 89 caprice has no temperature gauge and I push it, I really do. I get the emgine hot enough the fan roars in the summer and ive never had it get too hot. Your versa should be fine!
where are those pictures, Rick?
I prefer a warning light. It doesn’t leave any interpretation to the driver. The car tells you when it’s hot and when it’s not. Gauges are subjective…the driver may think “well, it’s higher than normal but still ok, keep driving.” I remember helping a friend move, had the pickup bed loaded and pulling a U-haul up the Grapevine. Temp gauge started climbing, turned off the A/C, still climbing, turned up the heater, still climbing, shifted down a gear, temp up to 260 but only half a mile to the top, still climbing, gauge in red and now warning light on, almost there…so at what point was the engine too hot?
Most people don’t realize that a temp gauge on a modern day car doesn’t actually represent the actual temp, just shows “normal” or “not normal”.
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Some cars with a gauge do not have a temp sensor in the coolant. The temp gauge is driven by software with input from other sensors.
My 2013 Mustang GT had a cylinder head temp sensor but no coolant temp sensor. The coolant gauge was a software estimate.
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Well, people who pay attention do. Yes, they are buffered - but that just means that if all is well, the gauge shouldn’t really move. At least every car I’ve ever owned was like that. So then, if that changes - riding lower or higher or fluctuating more than normal, then something is wrong that needs attention. The light/no light hides way more info than the buffering does. I want the info.
As soon as the temperature gauge passes whatever point it normally sits at once the engine is warmed up, there’s a problem. Or are you asking “at what point did the engine suffer permanent damage”?
I don’t realize that, and I’m not sure that is true. Every vehicle I have ever owned or worked on has at least one coolant temperature sensor, and many vehicles have two. I have heard that nowadays, many vehicles have an oil pressure gauge which is driven by software (no actual oil pressure sensor), but I’m not sure when that started. I had a 1995 Dodge Caravan with the deluxe instrument cluster, and I’m pretty sure the oil pressure, battery voltage, and coolant temperature gauges were all real. I currently have a 2000 Chevrolet Silverado, and I’m pretty sure those gauges are real too. Let me know what vehicle have fake gauges, so I can put them on my permanent “avoid like a disease” list.
Ford, for instance
Now you’ll NEVER buy a Ford for the remainder of your life 
The gauges aren’t “fake.” They’re “buffered.” E.g. your coolant probably goes from something like 185/190 to 240 under typical driving conditions. Inside of those bounds the gauge needle probably doesn’t change. You probably can’t avoid that style of gauge - even if you go back to the '90s / '00s.
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10 years ago one of my daily drivers was a 2008 Town Car. Within 2-3 minutes of a cold start, the gauge would settle right in the middle of the normal range. I thought that was a pretty quick warm-up time for a big V-8. So one evening after work I hooked up my Snap-On scanner, looked at live data while the car warmed up. The temp gauge was at the center of the normal range when the engine was at 138* and stayed exactly there until the cooling fan started to cycle at 215*. Even on a 100 degree day sitting at the drive-thru with the fans roaring the gauge never moved. What good is a temp gauge that reads exactly the same at 138 and 225? Might as well just have a light that comes on when it’s really too hot.
Gauges make customers believe there’s nothing wrong with their car when there actually is. Car comes in with a P0128 and I explain to the customer that the thermostat is stuck open and the car is running cold. “But my temp gauge is showing normal, it must be something else…”
The engine didn’t suffer any permanent damage. That was 80,000 miles ago and the pickup remains the most reliable in my fleet.
Well, Mustangman’s example above is one, my current daily driver is a Ford Flex and it has the same type of gauge. I can’t speak to every make and model out there but I can say assuredly that a gauge that displays the actual temp is becoming less common.
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