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Very slow warm up

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Old 11-22-2013, 11:09 AM
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Default Very slow warm up

I'm having an issue with very slow warm up. The car seems to take a long time to get up to operational temp if ever during my 15 minute trip. It is cold out (17 degrees) but it seems there is another issue. I have done some research and ended up purchasing a thermostat and have a temp sensor on the way.

Has anyone experienced this issue and if so, what did you do to fix it?
Old 11-22-2013, 11:33 AM
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that does not sound excessive to me. FWIW, my garage is around 50F and outside it's about 27F, it takes the car about 10 mins to get to operating temp - where the needle is in between the Cold and Hot temp gauge.
Old 11-22-2013, 01:53 PM
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I'm fairly certain it's an issue with one or both of the parts I mentioned. I can sit idle and the needle will move very very slowly to operating temp if it ever gets there. Doesn't seem normal to me.
Old 11-22-2013, 02:03 PM
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Originally Posted by raj99
that does not sound excessive to me. FWIW, my garage is around 50F and outside it's about 27F, it takes the car about 10 mins to get to operating temp - where the needle is in between the Cold and Hot temp gauge.
I'm fairly certain it's an issue with one or both of the parts I mentioned. I can sit idle and the needle will move very very slowly to operating temp if it ever gets there. Doesn't seem normal to me.
Old 11-22-2013, 02:19 PM
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So can you answer the following for me:

After you've run the car for say 1/2 hour and are at operating temperature. Can you turn off the car for 30 seconds, obviously in park, then start the engine again and tell us how quickly the needle moves to the optimal operating temp? It should occur rather quickly.


But from a cold start the needle will obviously move very slowly. I'm not sure what you are expecting it to do
Old 11-22-2013, 02:20 PM
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My average MPG has slowly been dropping as well. Is this possibly caused by the colder weather ?
Old 11-22-2013, 02:33 PM
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Originally Posted by raj99
So can you answer the following for me:

After you've run the car for say 1/2 hour and are at operating temperature. Can you turn off the car for 30 seconds, obviously in park, then start the engine again and tell us how quickly the needle moves to the optimal operating temp? It should occur rather quickly.


But from a cold start the needle will obviously move very slowly. I'm not sure what you are expecting it to do
I ran the test and the needle does jump to operating temp. I guess I expected to see the needle get to operating temp faster in the morning after driving 10 minutes going 80 and not getting to operating temp seemed odd to me. I've also read that the thermostat is likely to fail around 100k and get stuck open not allowing the car to get up to temp.
Old 11-22-2013, 02:42 PM
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So basically you've confirmed that things are running as they should be

I'm not about to stop you from changing your thermostat so that's your call. But just because the car can run 80 shortly after a cold start does not mean that it's at optimal operating temp.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do

Originally Posted by klatoszek
I ran the test and the needle does jump to operating temp. I guess I expected to see the needle get to operating temp faster in the morning after driving 10 minutes going 80 and not getting to operating temp seemed odd to me. I've also read that the thermostat is likely to fail around 100k and get stuck open not allowing the car to get up to temp.
Old 11-22-2013, 02:49 PM
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What engine is in your car. The smaller engine the less oil and coolant needs to be warmed up. The bigger the engine the more oil and coolant needs to be warmed up which takes longer.

The V10 in my car takes very long time to come up to operating temp. Conversely it stays warm for very long time after shut down.

Thermostats in cars in most cases fail completely. Meaning if they are stuck open the car will take very long time to reach operating temp and in winter will most likely never completely reach operating temp.

If OTOH the thermostat fails and stays closed then you have overheating car.

Last edited by haloguy628; 11-22-2013 at 02:52 PM.
Old 11-22-2013, 02:51 PM
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Originally Posted by raj99
So basically you've confirmed that things are running as they should be

I'm not about to stop you from changing your thermostat so that's your call. But just because the car can run 80 shortly after a cold start does not mean that it's at optimal operating temp.


Good luck with whatever you decide to do
Thanks for the information.


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