It takes forever to warm up the car or to use the heat. It is damn cold here, what is wrong? Temp gauge never gets to half way.

 

check your temp sensor.

 

temp sensor for the them guage, not the sensor for the ecu, also check thermostat, and coolant level while your at it

 

My maxima has what I consider a poor heater...but the engine temp gets up to the half way mark in my car. In your case the thermostat may be stuck open slightly.....its about a $14 part at the dealer and takes around half an hour to replace it and get the car back on the road. you'll need some coolant to refill the system.

 

Cold engine? Slow warm up? Heat not hot enough?

Change the thermostat.

The thermostat bocks cooolant from flowing throught the radiator until it's reached the set point of the thermostat. Then it slowly opens and regulates coolant flow to maintain proper engine temp.

Follow the upper radiator hose to the thermostat housing on the engine block. I think 2 bolts hold it together. Make sure you get a new o-ring or gasket for the housing or you'll wind up with coolant leaking.

 

Few months ago, the Check Engine light came on, i brought it to the shop, they ran a check and found out that the Knock sensor and the Coolant sensors bad. They changed the coolant sensor and reset the knock sensor and it happen after that and I also feel my Max lacks of power too.

 

it's 3 studs with bolts on them - make sure you don't overtighten the bolts and snap the studs, they are a biatch to get out with vice grips, due to the limited space.

(Had to do this at SC install, wasted nearly 1/2 a day finding a stud that would fit, and then removing the busted one)

IanS