Thermostat Stuck Open *

Well, I do not have a regular dash like many on this forum. My dash is digital, so, I cannot tell temps like 210 etc. And, I do not have the touch screen.
Anyway, my question is this...
In the winter my car will not warm up like it does in the sprintime. In the winter, on the gauge, it runs at 2 bars above cold. Therefore, the heater does not get warm. During the summer, it reads one or two bars above the center line (normal) with the A/C off. Does this mean either my thermostat is missing or drilled? Or, could the thermostat be stuck open? Any help will be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

My guess is it is stuck partially open. It may be functional except for closing all the way. Easy fix is just to swap in new one and see what happens. You can test the old one by heating up a kettle of boiling water.

My car did the same thing last summer and blew cold air no matter how long i let it warm up. I swapped out the t-stat and it the heat worked.

If you look at how the thermostat is designed and installed you may conclude it was made to fail open or partly open.

Just replace it. And be sure to 'burp' the system when you are done filling it with coolant.

Albertj

I didnt own the Riv last summer. I bought the car in April. So, I dont know. If the car has done this before. I have let it idle for about 30 minutes before driving and it warms up just fine. But, after driving the car for about a mile, the temp gauge drops to about 1-2 bars above cold.

albertj wrote:

If you look at how the thermostat is designed and installed you may conclude it was made to fail open or partly open.

Just replace it. And be sure to 'burp' the system when you are done filling it with coolant.

Albertj

I think I may just do that. Replace the thermostat I mean..

AA wrote:

My guess is it is stuck partially open. It may be functional except for closing all the way. Easy fix is just to swap in new one and see what happens. You can test the old one by heating up a kettle of boiling water.

I will check asap. I think I will just go ahead and replace it. I have all the service records since new until just before I purchased the car.. I didnt see anything about replacing the t-stat.

dscott2000 wrote:

AA wrote:

My guess is it is stuck partially open. It may be functional except for closing all the way. Easy fix is just to swap in new one and see what happens. You can test the old one by heating up a kettle of boiling water.

I will check asap. I think I will just go ahead and replace it. I have all the service records since new until just before I purchased the car.. I didnt see anything about replacing the t-stat.

Check the hoses real good while you are at it. If they are original they are bound to have some soft spots, especially the lower hose.

Bert

ibmoses wrote:

dscott2000 wrote:

AA wrote:

My guess is it is stuck partially open. It may be functional except for closing all the way. Easy fix is just to swap in new one and see what happens. You can test the old one by heating up a kettle of boiling water.

I will check asap. I think I will just go ahead and replace it. I have all the service records since new until just before I purchased the car.. I didnt see anything about replacing the t-stat.

Check the hoses real good while you are at it. If they are original they are bound to have some soft spots, especially the lower hose.

Bert

I checked them this morning. they both have white stickers on them with barcodes so I guess they are new.

dscott2000 wrote:

I have let it idle for about 30 minutes before driving and it warms up just fine. But, after driving the car for about a mile, the temp gauge drops to about 1-2 bars above cold.

Sounds exactly like an open thermostat.

Thank you all for the advice! The thermostat WAS stuck open. I went ahead and replaced it with a 180 t-stat and it is working perfect! Thank you!!

That is excellent!

Bert

That's great news! Just want to say, this thread is what our forums are all about:

1. Member has problem.
2. Fellow members offer suggestions.
3. Member tries low-cost solution.
4. Problem is fixed - at minimal expense & inconvenience.

Nice job, guys! In the future, use this thread as a model to help out others when they need it. I'm tagging the subject with a star (*) to indicate a "model tech thread".

Best,

AA
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