mickeyt

Any ideas as to why this is occuring? The heat takes a long time and doesn't actually get warmer when sitting in idle ie: start car and come back in 15 minutes. I put a new radiator and temp gauge in at 205k. Any suggestions are welcome.

Mike

Finn

My 1991 did not reach decent temperature. Reason was old thermostat which was stuck a bit open. New part cured my problem.

sha4000

iTrader: (1)

This plus did you check to see if your coolant level is low?

mikes7ke

iTrader: (1)

Could be an air pocket.

JM51526

My 1990 needed a new thermostat at 196,000. Don't know if it's been replaced before that.

My 2000 Focus needed a new one at around 80,000 and another at 150,000.

Thermostats are a wear/maintenance item, and most are easy to replace.

LScowboyLS

what is the car's temp gauge doing? - it is also low? - this is your main clue!

a bad thermostat will also have low temp on the gauge, like maybe only 1/4 the way up or less, while other issues such as a heater control valve, blend door, etc. would have the gauge temp still looking fine.

Michael

You were lucky that the thermostat stuck open. If the thermostat stuck closed, you are stranded on the road requiring to call a towing truck.

I do not know if they can design thermostat so that it always opens when it goes wrong.... Consequence is a night and day difference between stuck open and stuck closed.

I usually change mine at 100,000 miles on all of my cars. For my 93 LS, I pull them out to change at 100K, and this thermostat was a heavy duty one. It looks like it can go twice the normal were mile. But then looks can be deceiving.

How long did your thermostat lasted?

GH5T

Someone does make a thermostat that fails open but the brand name escapes me right now.

Michael

This is a patent-able idea. Someone should patent this and will make fortune. Just think how many they will sell. I have an old peer who patent the dual display (freq & time) on automobile radio and did practically retired at age 25.

Finn

I cannot say how long this problem existed as I bought the car maybe two months ago. 1991 and 195000 km (120k miles) on the clock.