It is winter in Chicago again. I have a '00 gsr. It takes forever to warm up in the winter (20 minutes). When I am sitting at a stop light, the temp gauge actually moves towards the C. I assumed it was the thermostat so I changed that. The problem is still there (maybe even a little worse) with the new thermostat. Is this normal? Any ideas beyond the thermostat. How long should it take to warm up when it is 10 - 20 degrees out? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

this is very discouraging news...I live in Indianapolis and my car does the same thing. When i'm on the highway the temp gauge drops all the way back down to C the whole time. The most it ever really warms up is maybe 1/4 of the way. I was planning on changing out the thermostat because I'm assuming it's stuck open but since you changed yours already and still having troubles that's kind of a disappointment. I'm not sure what else it could be...sorry.

 

Is the car running any differently? My car runs very cold in the winter time, and its a GS-R. So I think it might be normal. My car reaches JUST OVER the C line. And thats normal. You don't want a really hot engine, but you dont necessarily want it resting ON the C.

 

As far as my car goes, it always takes a long time to warm up and the temp gauge fluctuates back down to cold a lot pretty much year round. It's just a lot worse in the winter. I'm getting suck-ass gas mileage but of course that might be attributed to other car issues...The car runs so cold in the winter, I couldn't hit vtec if my life depended on it (not that I would want to all the time).

 

Lol!!! That Must Suck. I Live In Southern California And I Am Freezing My A$$ Off When It Hits 65 Degrees And Below. I Put On 2 Sweathers And 3 Shirts And Gloves Just To Warm Up My Car. But I Guess You Guys Have It Worst. Also It's Only Cold In The Early Mornings And Knight Time Besides That Get Your Sun Block Ready

 

IT RARELY HITS 66c it's mostly above 70 in winter

 

yeah, i know the feeling...I used to live in Ft. Lauderdale...

 

My 94 LS takes about 3 miles for the gauge to get to a bit left of center and then stay there. Its been about 0 in the morning and single digits in the afternoon. One thing that makes a little difference is to keep the fan off, or on very low until I see the gauge at least 1/4 the way. Your core is like another radiator taking heat out of the coolant. If its way beyond that, make sure the radiator is full, and see if bottom hose ever gets warm. Only thing that could really keep it from coming up to temp is an open stat.

 

Ayup, stuck thermostat. They don't have to be stuck open much to not have your car warm up.

 

If the temp gauge doesn't come up around halfway and stay there, you've got a problem somewhere. My car would seem fine in summer here in GA, but when it got cold it would seem to warm up just as I finally got to work (15 mile drive, all at 65-70 except the last 2 miles). Then I figured out that if I drove for a little bit then stopped it would come up to temp pretty quick. As soon as I took off and hit around 40 the gauge would drop like a rock (and you could feel the dash vents go cold). Replaced the thermostat, little to no differance. Started to doubt myself. Came to my senses, bought a name brand thermostat and been nice and toasty ever since. You don't even want to know how many house brand parts from one of the big chains are bad out of the box.

You could cover up part of the radiator with cardboard as a quick fix, but that's just covering up the problem.