I have a 91 GXE and my coolant temerature goes down to the C sometimes when I drive in cool to cold weather, but it doesn't go to the H in hot weather. Is there a problem with the sensor? or is my coolant really cooler?

 

HOw does your heat feel when ist's at C? If your heat is hot, it's the sensor. If no heat, then coolant is really cool. I would then check the T-stat. Might be missing or stuck open.

 

most likely if your car takes a long time to warm up and when u start driving around the temp goes down and you have no heat it would be your thermostat which is prolly stuck open. I had that happen to me on my old car last year

 

Yeah my car does take a long time to warm up. Where is the thermostat located at and what does it look like? If it is stuck open, can it be closed?

 

Get a manual, it will detail everything you need to know about servicing the cooling system. And for less than 5 bucks, a T-stat is always worth replacing once you have it out. They usually can't be "unstuck".

 

Is it OK for me to drive with a stuck thermostat? Winter is coming, so will having a stuck thermostat cause any problems besides longer warm up time? As long as I don't over heat will my coolant system ok? Also will the temp needle go to H if I am really overheating with a stuck thermostat?

 

Temp gauge is seperate from the T-stat, so that will not effect it. It's ok to drive like that, as long as your engine gets to at least the middle of the gauge. If it runs cool all the time, that can cause some problems in the long run. Plus, heat will not be very warm. As you said, winter is coming, so faster warmup will prolong the life of your engine and give you some heat to warm you up. Driving a cold engine hard is no good. Just replace it man. It is so easy and chaep, no reason to drive like that. If you must pay someone to do it, then do so, it should cost less than fifty bucks.

 

Ok my temp gauge does not work correctly. When I start the engine it will go up gradually after warming up. But then the needle will all the suddent go to H(or even past it). I just had the t-stat replaced because it closed and was not opening causing the coolant and car to overheat. So my question is it still does not read the temp gauge correctly should I just replace the sensor on the coolant and see if it fixes the temp guage readings??? I am confused because I thought replacing the t-stat might help the gauge but it didnt.

Im guessing I just need a new temp and fuel gauge because I think they go bad sometimes. My car is 13 years old.

 

Replace the sender for the temp gauge and see if that solves it..how is your heat?

 

I don't think the temp gauge should ever go down with the engine on. In cold weather it might take a while to get up from the bottom position though. We just have the first real cold day here in MN, and when I drive the car today it took forever for the temp gauge to rise up from the bottom. Took even longer before any heat comes out the vent! Brrrr...

Hard to believe such a large engine produces so few heat. My old Galant with 2.4l 4-banger gets up to operating temp much quicker, and produces more heat inside, and quicker too.

How do you know if your thermostat is working OK or not? It seems to work OK, i.e. the fan don't come on until the engine's pretty hot. What else could be wrong?

 

Sometimes people will remove their thermostat entirey during the summer, either because of a malfunction, or as insurance against overheating. If you just bought this car recently and have not yet driven it in cold weather, that could be the case. What the others said about a malfunctioning thermostat is possible too, and thermostats are cheap and easy to install, so that would be a good place to start.

 

i wouldnt go 2 extreme on that 1...my car's gauge dipped almost to "C" when i was on the highway (goin about 85) when is was around 40-50 degrees out, but as soon as i slowed 2 30 or so it would go back to the middle...

 

I've noticed that our car's 'natural' heating, i.e. from airflow through the front grille only as the car's moving and without radiator fan, is very good, too good in fact. I noticed than when I drove back from work, I went through the freeway almost immediately, and the engine took forever to warm up. On the way to work, I had to go through some side street before getting to the freeway, and the engine warms up considerably quicker. Maybe the grille opening's too big?

Anyway, with a car like this, I assume the old trick of blocking the grille with a cardboard or something during the winter ought to help a lot. Whaddaya think? Anyone tried it before?