car running cold

[kylekinnamon1989]

it is the winter but i dont think my car should be running as cold as it has been. i let it warm up for about 5-10 mins and it idles at about 1000 rpms, i drive 3 miles to work and i keep my rpms up high while driving, about 3 to 4k to get it to warm up faster so that i can use my heater lol, but even by the time i get to work my temp gauge is barely above (C). i dont think its my thermostat because i changed it about 4-5 months ago so it should be working fine.. any ideas??? please help

[gingerbredman]

ah arizona.. brings back memories lol

anywho, the heater does work right? i mean i go to college, takes about 10 minutes to get there, and my temp is just then coming off of the little peg on the bottom of the temp gauge, but the air is a little warm. i've got a stock thermostat, coolant/water mix, nothing out of the ordinary.

on cold nights, i could drive for hours on end and my temp might be a 1/4 inch or so from normal line the whole time.

has it ever got up to normal operating temp?

[del82]

I used to have this problem in a MkIII Supra I had. Mine you could actually *see* the gauge go down if you started hot rodding it in cold weather. Your new thermostat could be a "performance" piece, and by that they just mean its made to operate fully open some 10 degrees cooler or so, but I'd just as soon assume your car has a lot of miles on the engine, produces less power due to wear and therefore less heat, so it's going to have trouble getting up to operating temperature. You may notice a loss in fuel mileage as compared to warmer times, too.

Block off the front of your radiator with a piece of cardboard, or something else that's not likely to melt, and cut a few holes in it about the size of a coke can, see if that helps. You'll probably want to use either zip ties or mechanic's wire to hold it on. If it gets too hot, just make the holes bigger, and don't forget to remove it when the weather starts to warm up again, or if you plan on driving it hard.

P.S. Allowing it to warm up in park for long periods of time isn't necessarily good, and running high RPM on a cold engine can increase the chances of bearing failure, among other things. High RPM under low load also tends to put a lot of combustion gas in the PCV system in worn out engines. Well, high RPM and high load does too, for that matter.

[kylekinnamon1989]

my heater does work! because it starts to get warm but not until i get to where im suppose to be going. i do get very ****y gas mileage. about 16-18 mpg and thats just driving normal, without hot rodding or anything. the engine starts to warm up but it take a good 20 or 30 mins. i think i might try the cardboard thing. sound interessting lol.. thanks

[ANVIL]

did u bleed the coolant system properly when you replaced that tstat?

[del82]

did u bleed the coolant system properly when you replaced that tstat?

If there's no check valve on the engine, and its drain fitting is level or lower than the radiator, it will bleed itself out after a few hot/cold cycles. The extra air escapes the system via the overflow tank, and as it's cooling down it draws coolant out of the tank back into the system. Since most lateral mounted engines are lower than the coolant drain hose, this shouldn't be a problem. Good thing, too, because bleeding off the air manually is a pain.

[1989coupe]

Block off the front of your radiator with a piece of cardboard, or something else that's not likely to melt, and cut a few holes in it about the size of a coke can, see if that helps. You'll probably want to use either zip ties or mechanic's wire to hold it on. If it gets too hot, just make the holes bigger, and don't forget to remove it when the weather starts to warm up again, or if you plan on driving it hard.

I was always told that if you put something like cardboard directly against the radiator, it will cause hot spots in the radiator and cause it to go out. Would this not hold true with all radiators? Cutting a few holes in the cardboard would still have the same effect since the air in front of the radiator wouldn't be circulating. Just wondering.

[del82]

Never heard of it. Additionally, if you'll notice in the winter, tractor-trailer drivers have been blocking their radiators for decades, and their vehicles get driven more than anything on the road.

I'd understand if what you heard was blocking the radiator when its warm would cause the engine to overheat, which it can, and its why I mentioned to be careful about forgetting to take it out in fair weather.

Speaking of fair weather, that reminds me...don't do the cardboard trick if its wet outside. cardboard takes a really, REALLY long time to wash out of radiator fins. in that situation, you'd generally want to block off the air dam with a tarp, instead of covering the radiator directly.

[kylekinnamon1989]

did u bleed the coolant system properly when you replaced that tstat?

thats something i failed to do!

[lil_ben_2020]

c if ur running a clutch fan and a eletric fan thats what my 93 was doing

[del82]

c if ur running a clutch fan and a eletric fan thats what my 93 was doing

That additional electric fan is for the air conditioning system. Well, unless its an aftermarket fan...

[SullivanRacing06]

do you have a aftermarket header on the car? if you have installed a aftermarket header the motor wount retain heat as well as if it had a the stock cast manifold.

[kylekinnamon1989]

i dont have an aftermarket header but i do have the clutch fan and electric fan!

[needmorenissan]

hows your collant level?

[kylekinnamon1989]

the coolant level is good