Is it possible for a thermostat to get stuck open? Yesterday I was driving and it was almost to operating temp and I turned the heat on and it dropped down to the first line above cold...even on warm days, it takes a long time for the coolant gauge to move up...I thought it was the temp sensor, but the car was acting like was still not warm after a good 10 minutes of idling....I'm worried about the winter, cuz I don't want to not have any heat haha

 

Yes, thermostats get stuck open. Replace your thermostat as this also relates to your mileage thread. A cold engine runs in open loop, which is an ECU predetermined rich fuel mix (=low gas mileage).

 

You can also test the t-stat by placing it in a pot of water and watch it as the water starts to boil. If the water boils and the t-stat still has t opened the. You have a bad one. Of course when you remove it, it might be stuck open then you already know it's bad and just need to replace it.

 

Cool, thanks Ron....Man, for a well maintained car with only 126k on it, I'm facing a decent amount of work lol...I still have to change the brake and clutch fluid too...Plus my bearing issues and now the thermo...crikey

 

ha ha ha well maintained or not, its still a car and that means money... My wifes 4 door has less and 100K miles on it and I just dumped a little over a grand into new tires, control arms, ***** joints, brakes and did the timing belt... fun fun fun

 

bumpppppppppppppppppppppp