"My question is do these B230 engines typically get that close to the red zone on the temperature gauge before the temp drops? Is that just their nature?"
No, it is not their nature. Mine rises slowly until the "43 minutes" position and stays there. My previous 245's temp gauge behaved exactly the same.
However, I still have the compensation board in the instrument cluster. What this does is smooth out normal variations to prevent causing unjustified fear of overheating. Only if the temperature rises above the normal window will the needle start to rise again.
On instrument clusters that had this compensation board removed, I would not be surprised to see a lot more variation of the temp. Enough to let you see when the thermostat opens.
Search this forum for "temperature compensation board" and familiarize yourself with it so you know what to look for.
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