how come my car never gets warm?
 

When I first start my car in the morning, it is cold of course. But it takes at least 5-10 minutes before the temp gauge even reads anything. This wouldn't be a problem but I need the heater. Is this normal for it to take this long? Even after 20 minutes of driving it is still hardly past 100. My heater doesn't seem to be blowing very hot air. I think its because my car never gets warm. Is there a way to get my car to warm up faster? Think maybe my thermostat is stuck open?

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yellow 86 Camaro LG4
Pioneer head unit
Kenwood speakers
Infinity Beta Digital 300 amp
2 Infinity Perfect 12s

Sounds like an open thermostat to me too.

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Stephen's racing page

87 IROC-Z Pro ET Bracket Race Car
383 stroker (carbed) with double hump cast iron heads and pump gas
454 Big Block buildup now in progress for the 2001 racing season

Best results before the 383 blew up
Best ET on a time slip: 11.857 altitude corrected to 11.163
Best MPH on a time slip: 117.87 altitude corrected to 126.10
Best 60 foot: 1.662

Racing at 3500 feet elevation but most race days it's over 5000 feet density altitude!
Member of the Calgary Drag Racing Association

87 IROC bracket car
91 454SS daily driver
95 Homebuilt Harley

You could always feel the upper rad hose too, it should be pretty hot, pretty quick.


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
---Think your car could be pic of the week? Visit http://www.f-body.net for details!

I guess since it is pretty cold this time of the year in Washington state your car will take somewhat longer to warm-up. But like he said check the radiator hose. I would suggest to check it soon after starting the engine and feel for a gradual increase in temperature. Leave the car running without moving it so there is no airflow across the radiator.

matthew you mind reader, i was going to post that same question. I just replace my thermostat to a 180 in september becuase I thought for sure my car was never entering a closed coolant loop. My temperature gauge in traffic will get at best up to 160, and on the highway i am lucky if I break 100. I have a griffin radiator and I switched over to dex-cool III but that still does not explain why my car will not break 180. Do you think it is my temperature sender is bad? Yes mathew i feel your pain, i had to drive home the other day and the heater was a mere 5 degrees warmer then the ambient air.

If there is no hot air then we can assume that either the coolant is not getting hot at all, the heater core is plugged, the air temperature control damper is not operating, or the heater coolant divert valve is not working.
If the coolant temperature is higher when you are at stand still and drops when you are on the highway, then you are getting coolant flow across the radiator and if it's well below the thermostat rating then it may be stuck open. On the other hand your thermostat may be working right and your sending unit or even the gauge may be bad.

My wife's minivan had the same problem with the heater, and it turned out to be that the coolant level was way low. Low enough that the sending unit still had contact with it but not high enough to flow out of the heater connection. The temperature gauge was reading normal but the coolant reservoir was empty and the radiator was low. So I added coolant and everything was nice and toasty after that.

I changed from a 160 to a 180 for smog purposes and the engine got cooler. I don't think that the guage or the sender is bad, cause one night in may (my birthday) I was crusing State st. in Santa Barbara CA, and on the second pass I looked down at the guage and it read almost 220. But from normal driving it stays way down, like 140. I bypassed the heater if that means anything.

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'82 Firebird, dead stock, 9 bolt disc rear, over 200,000 miles and still going strong, more to come...

UVA, the temperature guage in these cars is far from accurate. I have a 160* T-stat (your car goes into closed loop @ 115*F BTW, confirmed with a scan tool), and while my Scan Tool will read a constant 160*F, my guage looks like only 130*F.

don't forget the guage sender and the temp sensor are at different locations...

zroc

I don't thnk my heater gets warm because the engine water never gets hot enough. When I cruising down the road at 60 mph the thing is hardly above 100! So do you think I have a bad thermostat?

My IROC does not get hot enough to heat the car. I used to have both fans running all the time but the car never got much over 100 so I unhooked them and it will warm up to around 180 sitting still with no fans on. Maybe it would warm higher while sitting, just never checked. The heat works once the temp rises, however, once I drive it the temp qickly goes back down to around 100, and the heat goes away as well.

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87 IROC, 350/5 speed. gmpp 350, vortec heads w/some work, XE268, 1.5rr's, 650dp, rpm intake, MSD ing., ect.
89 formula, L98.

Matthew, sounds like the thermostat to me. If you have an automatic, do you notice it takes a long time to "lock up" the TC while at highway speeds in 4th? That is another sure fire sign since a bad T-stat will not allow to reach the minimum temperature (around 115*F) for the engine to go in to closed loop. Also your gas mileage may have severely dropped.

With an LG4, guys are saying that the 180* gives better overall performance that a 160*.

I can't relly tell Glen. I usually drive the first 5 miles or so in third gear so that it warms up faster.