r berq

98 Civic EX 4-door D16Y8 Automatic trans

The stock thermostat for my car begins opening at 172 degrees, and is fully open at 196 or thereabout. It seems like the engine never fully warms up in cold weather. What about putting in a 185 or 192 or 195 thermostat? Any problems with that? Which temperature?

BryanM.

iTrader: (1)

What makes you say this?

How long/far do you drive it?

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

What is this word "seems"? Does the gauge read a lower than normal temp?

r berq

In warm weather, say 60 degrees or higher, I drive about 8 miles and then idle speed will drop down to normal, fuel cuts off at closed throttle so that I get reasonable engine braking, and so on. In our present temperatures of 20 degrees, that warmup "never" happens unless I go out and drive fast on the highway. I replaced the OEM Honda thermostat with a new OEM one -- no improvement.

grumblemarc

iTrader: (4)

What. Is. The. Gauge. Reading. When. It. "Seems". To. Not. Warm. Up?

Animefun

iTrader: (1)

Also the thermostat can be broken, mine didn't warm up at all so i changed the thermostat and now it warms up just fine!
But since you changed it there must be something else, maybe some sensors getting suicidal.

I live in Norway with 5 fahrenheit at the moment, so your 20 is plenty of warm enough to get a car warmed up!

B20DelSol

If you are worried about it, why don't you just start the car up before you leave...let it warm up for about 10 mins, and then start driving.

r berq

We will see 5 degrees soon, and -25 or worse later. A sensor was my other guess, maybe the coolant really IS warm enough but the sensor says no. I guess my next step is to buy a scan tool to see what the computer thinks the coolant temperature is.

speedjunkie_g35

I have always installed a remote start in my cars so they are warmed up when I do walk out to get in the car. Well worth the money IMO! Of coarse I live in the south where we might see temps get in the teens. I couldn't imagine not having a remote start living up north.

Animefun

iTrader: (1)

You could manage just fine if you got winter gloves and a down jacket if you don't have a remote start, haha!

r berq

Having an attached garage helps!

Lots of good ideas, folks, but nobody has answered my original question about whether it's OK to install a higher-temperature thermostat.

B20DelSol

Remote Start without any switch to tell if the car is in neutral or not FTW!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Its great when you remote start turns into remote drive, just without remote steering.

kyden

haven't dealt with anything made in at least the last 5 years huh? almost all the systems out now are made for manual transmissions.

putting in a higher temp thermostat is a band aid to your solution. my integra will a full size radiator gets up to temp and running in closed loop in under 3 miles (side roads, not highway). it was 30 this morning.

you never answered what the gauge says. are you just not getting heat out of the heater core? i'm not sure of what your exact issue is, as you are being very vague about your question.

Animefun

iTrader: (1)

Agreed, if it blows nice and hot inside the car but the gauge says that your engine is cold, it's a temperature sensor or something like that most likely.

r berq

I did describe my issue, but it probably got lost amid all the postings: It takes a long time and maybe 15 or 20 miles before idle speed will drop to normal, fuel injectors will shut off during deceleration, etc. The odd thing is, it will warm up MUCH faster in warm weather than in cold -- whereas I would expect only a small difference because the thermostat should stay closed until it's up to temp.

The gauge shows normal and heater output is good after about 3 miles, just like yours. How would I test the coolant temperature sensor? I have checked it at various temperatures by measuring block temp with my infrared heat gun and then putting my ohmmeter across the terminals. Is there a better way to test it?

I'm wondering if the heater core and cold winter air are bleeding off enough engine heat that it just plain does NOT heat up to proper operating temperature????

civicguy395

if you have your radiator fan running all the time like mine is it will never get warmed up like mine does it shows that its warmed up but blows cold air out the vents now if i let it sit there for 5 -10 minutes it blows heat anyways id start with the radiator fan if it stays on all the time when its cold theirs ur problem