1987 2nd Gen 6 cyl

I live in Indiana. In cold weather (it sits outside), I let it warm up for 10 minutes or so, then take off down the road. Well, it takes another 10-15 minutes driving down the road until it will warm up.

When I say warm up, I mean, how long it takes until it will kick into 5th gear... The water temp gauge takes forever to move, and once it warms up enough (finally) to kick into 5th gear, then the water temp gauge will go up pretty quick in stay in about the middle.

I have put in a new stock thermostat, and did a full flush of the cooling system.

What would be causing this problem? It does want to get a little too hot in the summer time, so I think the blades on the water pump are wearing down and not circulating well enough, but that would cause it to warm up even quicker i would think.

Maby the water temp sensor is going bad? I am not sure. The fans dont stay on constantly, so I don't think it's that.

Any ideas?

 

I woudl check the sensor and all related wires.The fans tho do not run all the time only when needed.

 

Or it could just be the cold *** weather. Mine takes some time to warm up. And it wont go into overdrive for a while until it hits just after the first line.

 

Yeah, I understand it's a fairly old car :-) (I've had it since it was brand new)And it is cold out... but dang.. I am almost home by the time it warms up and shifts to 5th/or blows hot air... It's gotta be something fixable I figure... cause it used to be 10x faster...

Anyone have the resistance chart on the water temp sensor? I'd kinda like to test it before i try getting a new one...

 

Well how cold has it been over there? I know the east coast has had pretty damn cold weather which enough to cause this issue. How is the car in moderate to warm temps?

S

 

The colder it is, the worst the problem is. It gets down to 10 to 30 degree lows at night when I get out of school. In the summer the problem isnt this bad.. it still takes awhile... but its not like this...

It's just not very convenient to let the engine warm up for 20-25 min everytime I drive it...

Last night I had it garaged in 70* temps cause the voltage regulator went bad and I had to pull the alt apart and replace it, so this morning it was a lot nicer and quicker warming up. Maby I'll replace the sensor and see if that helps.. if not I guess I will have to find a way to trick it.. I hate that it wont let you shift 5th till its warm.

 

Wow with temps like that, you might wanna invest in an engine block heater....that may help the issue out a little.

S