mdb20

**I've posted something similar to this off and on for the past 4 years, so I apologize for being a little redundant. I'm still having issues periodically and I'm curious if anyone else has as well. I also wanted to see if I could get any new thoughts or ideas from anyone.

I've had to replace the thermostat in my 95 LS 3 times in 4 1/2 years. This seems pretty excessive for a car that is otherwise mechanically sound and well maintained. The issues start in the winter typically, when it takes a long time for the engine to warm up. Fuel economy also suffers. The first time, I presumed it was a stuck open thermostat and after replacing it with an OE Honda part, the problem was resolved. My issue is that this has been a frequent occurrence. Why is my car causing thermostats to fail partially open so fast? The coolant is fresh and fully filled and the radiator is only a few years old. I just replaced another thermo the other day because the car was getting pretty crappy MPG's and it was taking a while to heat up. This was pretty atypical seeing that it's still summer and the temps have been warm. I can understand the winter though, especially in the Midwest. The new thermo solved the issue, as the others have in the past. Has anyone else had a similar issue? I checked online and Mitchell to see if there were any part recalls or TSB's for Honda or Integra's on thermostats, but didn't find anything. It seems silly for the car to need a thermo this often. Last winter, I checked the coolant temp sensor and coolant gauge sender and both were functioning properly and triggered a check engine light when disconnected but not while connected. Could there be an issue with the heater core or some other part of the cooling system? This seems unlikely, seeing that a fresh thermo seems to correct the problem for about a year or so. Sorry for the long post.

**Any ideas, comments or similar issues or problems?

Spec R

what coolant are u using?

Lynxs1981

Are you using good quality coolant and distilled water?

mdb20

Always green coolant. The coolant that was in the car since Spring 2008 was put in at the Acura dealer when they did my water pump and timing belt. I assume it was Honda OE green coolant being from the "stealership". All I've used in the past was the premixed 50/50 green coolant from either Advance Auto or Oreilly's.

Spec R

i've strictly used honda type 2 turquoise coolant in all the honda cars i've owned/worked on.

cruzalekz

next time before flushing the system and changing the thermostat, i would recommend to put in a cleaner to the cooling system. also suggest to get new coolant and not recycle

JoePoonani

heres a dumb question. are the thermostats that you keep replacing OEM units?

mdb20

A few of the thermostats have been aftermarket, but the last 3 consecutive have been OEM parts from the dealer.