Thread: Turning heater on = bad gas mileage??

Well it does kick in when you have it on the front window defroster with nozzle in blue or gray.

Most new cars do this, manufacturors figure if your pushing air to the front window your trying to defog it. Gets rid of the humidity thus it defogs the window.

How do I know this? Because I can feel the car jerk like turning the AC on, when I would turn on the fan to 1 and it would be in the front window mode.

Hmm...what would explain some things...well, in my non-mechanic, common sense thinking.

When I bought this car, the cooling system was all messed up. Had a g20 radiator from a junk yard that wasn't properly installed, it only had one fan, the rad had leaks everywhere and it was all ''secured' by what seem to once be a clothes hanger.

Thermostat huh? Hmm...I will get one asap. If that doesn't work, at least I have a new one!

Yes...does that mean it works or doesn't?

i think if it's not going up to the middle that it would be bad. meaning that the t-stat is stuck open?

not the case for me. so i'm going to assume my t-stat is good. i also have hot heat (which i believe is another sign of a bad t-stat, correct?).

i'm still going to try moving the slider and see what happens.

Well, it's about time to fill my tank up and I'm at about 24mpg right now. Tank before that was 20 because I switched off the heater half way and it was 18 the tank before that. I have done nothing else but move the slider from hot to cold.

The pointer is right below the middle line, which is where I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be. Still searching, I swear I've heard of this problem before, but I can't find anything yet.

Its your thermostat!