How do you know if you need a new thermostat?

 

If your car is running hot. If it is not working properly, then that means that it is not opening to allow cool water into the motor. There could be a couple of other things that cause your car to run hot though too.

 

If it sticks closed you run too hot. If it sticks open you run too cold. But a thermostat is pretty cheap, so you just get a new one & see if that fixes your problem.

 

My temp guage has been fluctuating very minimally. It slowly moves up and down roughly a notch. If i needed a new thermostat, would the temp guage just read either hot or cold instead of fluctuating?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Gen5lude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">... If i needed a new thermostat, would the temp guage just read either hot or cold instead of fluctuating?</TD></TR></TABLE>
Yes, but this might be the very beginning - like it's just starting to stick a little bit. It's got to get a lot hotter before it does damage to your engine. Get a new thermostat (they don't cost that much) but don't panic. Keep watching that temperature gauge. When's your next 'scheduled' coolant change? You should be doing that every 2 years anyway.

 

The search function helped narrow my prob. If your overheating at idle then at rev to higher rpms, around 4000rpm for me, and the temperature drops it may be your water pump. When overheating is your upper rad hose hot or cold, and what about your lower rad. I believe if your upper is cold but the lower is hot may be the themostat. Check the search much more informative.

 

I want to put a colder thermostat in my honda. What would ya'll recomend. I was thinking about a 170 or a 160 degree. What are the thoughts of those that are interisted. Let me know.