Alex Mazzotta

My thermostat works half the time. Ill have been driving for a half hour and i look down and the needle is all the way at Cold which isn't right, but then 10 minutes later i look down and its straight up where it should be and then it moves around irregularly. Obviously something isn't right with it, but Im wondering how negatively it affects the car. Like if the thermostat is wrong, then does that mean that the coolant regulation will also be wrong? Cause that would be an issue that I want to correct if thats the case.

Thanks

Alex Mazzotta

After reading up on some stuff I realize I'm asking the wrong questions. The thermostat is not the issue so far as I'm concerned. The issue is the temperature gauge in my dashboard. If that isn't reading the engine temperature correctly, then does that affect the thermostat? From what I read recently it doesn't because the thermostat is self regulated but I don't want to risk overheating issues.

Basically, if my temperature gauge on the dashboard is messed up, is there an impending issue?