I think my thermostat failed, help with conformation?

[328ioc]

Hello family,

Well tonight I had an hour drive home which was 45 min of highway driving and I realized that my car never reached full temperature.

This obviously sounds to me like a failed thermostat, but even though I was keeping a fairly constant speed the temp gauge kept fluctuating, some time it almost reached running temp but then never stayed there.

So I am wondering what are the chances that it is the coolant temp sensor over the thermostat and is there any way to tell which it is before I start replacing parts?

Also conditions tonight were normal: about 65 degrees, and I even drove with the heat on for a bit to see if it would cause the temp gauge to go up but it never did.

Any insight from the experts?

Thanks,

DM

[Newjack]

Sounds like your thermostat is stuck open. Mine did the same thing right before I replaced my cooling system.

Having the heat on would help cool off the coolant more, it wouldn't increase the temp.

[328ioc]

Gotcha, sadly I wont have time to replace it until next week. Is there any harm in driving it around town till then?

[llll1l1ll]

Just be careful with a thermostat that's stuck open. You also will get pretty poor gas mileage.

[328ioc]

Maybe that explains my some what mediocre fuel mileage.

But at the same time my car reached normal temp today just fine in my way to class and its only a 2 mile drive or less.

Maybe I will just do the thermostat and temp sensor then do the rest of the cooling system over the summer.

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[nike001]

Thank your lucky stars that your thermostat didn't stick closed..

[328ioc]

Yeah that would have been shitty considering I have had the car for less that two months.

[llll1l1ll]

If the car reached normal temps today, the thermostat might be getting sticky and staying stuck open sometimes and functioning for real at others. Keep a close eye on that temperature gauge, because if it gets stuck closed you will quickly overheat. Also keep in mind that the temp gauge in these cars is pretty numb. When the needle is straight up, it's saying that the engine is in the correct range - not an exact temperature. So when the engine truly overheats, that needle is going to move but it'll be slightly behind the actual engine temperature - IIRC.

[328ioc]

Yeah, I do know they are "dummy gauges" and I ordered the new thermostat a few hours ago so hopefully it will be here Friday.

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[johnrando]

Yup, there is a solution on our site for overheating warnings due to the "dummy" temp gauge. Drawing a blank on the name, but someone will post it. If not, I will.