ok so when i warm up the car in the morning, i'll wait 5 minutes 'til the needle reaches the middle, engine warm

so i pull out and get on the highway and the water temp gauge needle will start moving back down to 'C'
after driving around for an hour or so, it'll stick to the middle between 'C' and 'H'

this has been happening for about a month


so a friend suggested i replace the thermostat?
would that be the only solution? i'm not looking to spend that much if i replace that part and come to find out its something else

he also said that i might be wasting gas if the ECU reads the temp as cold, engine cold; thus feeding more gas or what not (whatever that means), but yeah, i'm lost

any help would be appreciated

 

a thermostat should only be like 10 bucks. might be the problem. i'd say it is too!

 

It may be stuck in the open position...your lucky if it is. I would rather have a thermo stuck open, than stuck closed. It's easy to replace the thermo, just drain the radiator, undo the lower radiator hose from the thermo, and then unbolt the thermo (8 or 10mm I believe). It takes about 10-45 minutes depending on your skill level.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by HONDA_TYPE_R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It may be stuck in the open position...your lucky if it is. I would rather have a thermo stuck open, than stuck closed. It's easy to replace the thermo, just drain the radiator, undo the lower radiator hose from the thermo, and then unbolt the thermo (8 or 10mm I believe). It takes about 10-45 minutes depending on your skill level.</TD></TR></TABLE>

im a newbie and even i did it. just loosen the plastic plug at the bottom to drain the coolant. you dont even need to remove any hoses. just undo 2-3 10mm bolts(they are hard to reach though) after that you stick a screwdriver pull that **** out and coolant will spill everywhere. then you just take it out put a new one in and refill collant in radiotor and your done.

 

What happens if the Thermostat is stuck closed cause I've been having problems with my temp readings too but my readings go up and and go back down everytime I excelerate and I was told it might be the thermostat