You can type here any text you want

Time to open thermostat in cold weather

Welcome!

By registering with us, you'll be able to discuss, share and private message with other members of our community.

SignUp Now!

Weazel

This just in,alky is good
Joined
May 25, 2001
Messages
556
Kind of a dumb question, but here goes. I just tested my coolant yesterday, and it was good to somewhere between 0 and -5 degrees. It's gonna be colder than that up here in a few days (yay) so I took a gallon of coolant out, and put in a gallon of antifreeze, so the mix should be good to -25 or so. I wanted to make sure that it mixed, so I idled the car for about 40 minutes while having dinner. The temp gauge I have is really unreliable, but it went up to an indicated 200. The car usually cruises at 210 or so on that gauge on the highway in summer.

I couldn't hook up direct scan, and I'm not absolutely sure whether it has the stock thermostat or a 160 degree one. I just know that DS usually reads 170ish while cruising,and 190 if I'm in the staging lanes.

I just wanna make sure the coolant from the engine mixed in with that of the radiator (where I added the new coolant). I let it idle forever, but that was at a 15 degree ambient temperature. Now the thermostat has always worked before (car never overheated) so it would've HAD to cycle the coolant in the time I was idling it...right...??? I'm an idiot, I thought the mix was fine until I tested it just now, of course RIGHT before the coldest day I've ever seen. Just looking for some input, thx.

JLW
 
Since I assume you can't or don't want to drive the car a bit I would rev it up to 2500 or so rpms three or four times for 10 seconds.

Flows a lot more at that rev according to my see through plastic T I use to cool my turbo.

Otherwise just drive it 6-10 miles.

I would assume stock thermostat at those temps. and it should be open.
 
In a pinch to verify your thermostat opening if you have a scanmaster you should see a quick 15-20 degree drop upon initial warmup of the car.

Or you might have to hook up direct scan to watch it live. :)

Probably won't register on a gauge since it's quick and not a huge swing.
 
If the thermostat is open the upper radiator hose is quite hot. You will also see fluid pouring out of the tubes when the cap is off. I do all my warming up after changing coolant with the cap off so I can see everything. Rev it and the flow is quite obvious.
 
Back
Top