Thread: Engine not warming up

I can't catch a freaking break with this damn car, the water pump decided to take a **** today That was pretty much the one piece besides the heater core I havn't replaced yet. I'm getting so f'ing sick of this thing, I drove 19k with no problems, then in the last 1k I've put in two rads, an alt, and now a water pump

I had the same issue, almost. Car wouldn't get warm in the cabin, operating temps seemed normal, or thereabouts. T-stat was stuck closed, building a lot of pressure in the radiator hoses. Squeezing the heater core hoses revealed no pressure, or warmth for that matter. Only possibility was the t-stat. It was cold enough outside that the car wouldn't really overheat, though. Replaced the t-stat and it's as right as rain again.

Learned a little bit more tonight. On my way home from work today, I sprung a leak in my upper radiator hose. While replacing the hose and filling the radiator back up with coolant, I decided to break out the old laptop and run my Nissan Scan software.

While idling, it took the car only a few minutes to get up to operating temperature (170ish). I let the car idle for 20 more minutes and it was up to 190. 30 seconds of driving and she ws right back to 170. The weather tonight is 47 and raining. I took the car for a ride and here is what I discovered. When driving the car around 50mph, the temp stayed around 167 to 170. However, when I opened it up 65/70mph and headed south to higher elevation (cooler temps), the temperature gauge headed south also. I had readings a low as 162. Once again, the air temp was in the high 40's and not in the teens like a lot of mornings around here. I feel pretty confident, with my larger than stock radiator and air temps in the low to high 20's, my water temp is going to drop into the 150's or lower when running over 65mph. I won't get a chance to test this for a few days, as we are warming up right now. However, the first chance I get to drive to work in very cold temps, I'll bring the laptop and record my findings.

On a side note. I just ordered a new 180 degree tstat from Gregv. I figure the extra 10 degrees will help me stay north of 160 on the coldest days. Fingers crossed.

I just received my 180 tstat from GregV and threw it in asap. I think my temperature issues are over. The temperature today was 32 degrees, which was perfect to compare the results to my previous post.

I let the car idle up to temperature (180ish), so I could get all the air out of the system before my drive. I hooked the laptop up and away I went. No matter how fast or slow I drove, the temp was pretty much stuck at 183. I was flying upwards of 90mph and no drop!! Before, the temps would start to dive over 70ish mph. Sweeeeeeeet!!!!!

The one thing I wish I would have done to eliminate all possible questions, was to replace the current tstat with a new Nissan 170 unit. The tstat I had in my car this morning was an Autozone special that was two weeks old tops and apparently not able to regulate the temperature correctly. I stuck the Autozone special in a pot of boiling water and it appeared to be working justs fine, so I'm not sure what was going on with dipping temps as speed increased. Maybe the cheap tstat was slow to react to temperature changes?? Not sure if I'll ever know the answer to this one.

Now, the temperature of the heat coming out of the vents at 183 is pretty much fire!! I look forward to my 20 mile commute to work on Monday to give the tstat one final test.

Well, the stat is working like a champ!! Drove all the way to work with air temps in the low 20's and the thing was stuck at 183.2 degrees. I think the problem with Autozone tstats is they react too quickly to temp changes, opening very fast and letting too much cold water rush in before closing again. Who knows and I guess who cares right? Always use an OEM tstat and you should be good to go.

Good to see the problem fixed. Makes you wonder if the problem was the T-stat or air in the system (or a combination of stuff). It gives me hope for my temps though. I hope to see higher temps with the 180 degree T-stat as well.

Dam I have hardly no heat, car takes forever to warm up, and my lower radiator hose is very cold. I am assuming tstat here but now I'm nervous to grab the Autozone one.

Don't bother with an autocrap one. Go to napa, or to the dealer.

I am idiot as when you mentioned napa it reminded me that I already bought the Tstat from them along time ago when I went to get a gas cap to pass emissions. I forgot I had it and never installed it

Now I just gotta throw it in so I can have some heat.

My service charge is $49.99.