since its been getting cold out my needle for my coolant gauge stays around the top of the bottom dashes. normally in the summer it would get up to half way. right now its in the 40s and its only getting colder. so if its this low now im not going to have heat if it gets much colder. is this normall? is the radiator just cooling the engine that good? i guess im just paranoid about my engine because i didn't change the water pump or thermostat when i put my b16 in.

 

Guess the only way to get heat is to get a new thermostat... sounds like the first one was set too low anyways.

 

If your system has air bubbles in it, it will cause the gauge to be off sometimes. Assuming your thermostat is fine. While your car is cold. cold. cold. again, I said cold. Take off your radiator cap and then let the car run for a while and get up to operating temperature. It might take 10-15 minutes. You might see bubbles come out of the radiator. Let them keep coming out until they stop. Also, turning your heater on high will help open that thermostat up faster. You want it to open up and cycle the coolant through the system so those pesky bubbles get out. - Darrell

 

Air bubbles are a possibilty.

But it could be that your thermostat is stuck open. This will cause the engine to be too cold which will cause it to run rich. If you let it run too rich for too long it can foul your plugs and oxygen sensor and ruin your catalytic converter. A $5 thermostat and a 15 mintue job to fix it can cause a lot of trouble if you let it go so make sure you check it.

 

mine does the same thing. i worried about it at first, but after driving it like that all last winter with the needle staying really low and not having any problems i quit worrying about it. it hasn't affected my heat in any way whatsoever that i can tell. honestly, i usually have to cut the heat back because it gets too damn hot in the car, and the needle on the temp. gauge never really moves. i wouldn't really worry about it unless you notice any other problems.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Mighty &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
But it could be that your thermostat is stuck open. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Thats where I'd start looking

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DOHCZCCRXSi &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> Also, turning your heater on high will help open that thermostat up faster.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Does not make sense at all.

The thermostat works off of cooling system heat. If you turn on your heater, you are removing heat from the cooling system(RIGHT)???

So please explain how removing heat from the thermostat will make it open faster?

 

In the old days you did have to turn the heat on. On older vehicles turning the heat on allowed hot water to circulate through the heater core and provide heat. Turning the heat on after changing coolant allowed the new coolant to circulate through the heater hoses and cores and remove air bubles, etc.

On modern cars (Honda included), the coolant is always flowing through the heater core. When you turn on the heat you are directing air flow across the heater core to heat up the interior.

So MR5sARECOOL, you are correct, turning on the heater is removing heat from the system and it should take longer for the system to heat up.

And coot_er you could have problems running with the sensor reporting cold. If the ECU is being told that the engine is cold, it will adjust itself to run as a cold engine .... usually more fuel less air, and usually different timing. There is a different coolant temperatur sensor for the ECU.

Jay

 

well in the summer it was warming up fine. it just started to do this this week? does that help any?

 

yea when you turn on the heater it cools the motor down. If your car starts to run a little hot u turn ur heater on and it brings it down. Old trick for people when their ac fans would go out and they were at a stop light it would overheat some so they would have to blast the heater on to make its cool down some till they got on the freeway or something before they can hit ac again...

 

Now in the winter you have colder air, cools off the radiator and the motor quicker and more efficiently. Do you find that it warms up a bit when sitting a stop light or parked?

And, are you using your heater now.

And, maybe the thermostat just went recently?

I have the same prob on my Golf. During the summer it dosen't matter too much, didn't use the heater, generally warmer air around, didn't really bother me much. Unfortunately on the Golf the thermostat is at the lowest point of the coolant system and I have to drain the whole system. Now that it is near freezing here, time to replace the thermostat.

Jay

 

ya it does warm up a little more when sitting at a stop light. ya im using my heater now. i know the heater cools it down but shouldn't it still warm up to operating temperature? if operating temperature is 50% on the guage well i would guess mine stays around 10%. if im at a stop light it might go up to 15%, but its still a long way from 50% (operating temperature)

 

Dude its a 5 mintue job to fix your thermostat and it costs about $10. We cant fix your car here by talking about it. Go pull your thermostat and tell us what you find. You can put the thermostat in a pan of water on the stove and heat it up to see if its working.

 

to replace the thermostat do i have to drain the coolant? are there just two bolts holding on the housing or more?
im going off of http://www.carenthusiast.com/c...t.pdf page 128 if you care.

 

no you dont have to change out the coolant however have a rag with you cuz a little will come out. after you get the new thermo in I would advise flishing the coolant just to get any bubbles out. bubbles will usually cause overheating.

 

yesterday i replaced the thermostat and now everything is fine. i notice that it warms up in about half of the time also. even in the summer it would take about 5-7 minutes to warm up and now it only take about 1-2 (while driving).
just thought i would finish the thread for future reference.

 

Don't you love the Ohio weather? Thank the Lord I got of Lima so I wouldn't have to deal with hassels like that. BTW even in the dead of winter in Florida, the car left at idle won't heat up for a good 10 minutes or so.

 

You're welcome.