Temp gauge phenomenon

[nikos]

Ok today I was doing a lot of stop-start driving in my au1 forte 4.0 with 153k on the clock, 35degC+ with aircon on full and a coupla passengers worth of weight. Temp gauge was consistently on the 'O' of NORMAL. I stopped the engine, went into a shop and come out 2 mins later. When I started up again the needle flicked straight to max 'H' and the warning light/beep came on. After 5sec of idle it fell back to 'O' again, and all was well. This happened after all stops.

Has this happened to anyone else in the heat? I was told that it is the water ceasing flow that imediately heats up in the engine when turned off, and when engine is turned on again it flows out replaced by the cool radiator water.

I'm assuming there is no real problem, just curious as it has never happened before. Also the car seemed a little gutless and tranny was a little whinier than usual, but I'm just assuming that was the heat and high load on the car.

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