Lude Generation

Anyone else notice the lude temp gauge go above its normal spot today? Mine normally sits at about 8 oclock position, a fair smidge under half way.

However, today after having the aircon on full blast recirc , after an hours drive, i noticed it creeping a little above the half way. This was after some fairly freaking insane driving, and a mixture of traffic and traffic lights.

I'm not overly concerned, it was mid day, it was 35degrees out, the aircon was on flat out, and i'm probably still running 50%+ winter coolant mix in the coolant which doesn't help. It eventually settled down after i turned off the AC and maintained a steady cruising speed. A quick underbonnet inspection revealed nothing untoward, not even a smell of coolant, but boy was it hot under the bonnet lol.

lol at the swear filter - "s p i r i t e d" turns into fairly freaking insane...

Quickly checked the fluid level before my journey today, hadn't changed, no puddle under the car. Southampton and back without issue, temp gauge stayed in its usual place the entire time, so it was down to the high ambient temperature in the end.

I've noticed on my van (2017 Tranny), whenever ambient is above 30 and I'm in stop/start traffic, the temp goes through the roof. Yesterday it was sitting just below red. In 2018 it did go to the top of the red before I noticed, pulled over and let it sit for an hour or so to cool down. No adverse effects from it all though but it does seem to do it whenever its above 30.

I have a spoon low temp thermostat in my s660 which opens are 72deg c and is fully open at 82deg C. In the motorway it stays at 86deg c. On Friday is was at 92deg C which is where it normally would be on the OEM thermostat.
The van was normal 90deg temp but that's a VW so I don't trust anything it says.