I am FREEZING in my car in winter especially

[laimisl]

Hi all,

I guess from the title it is clear that my engine does not heat up well especially in winter time. I have to cover radiator with cardboard to get some heat, and this only works on the longer trips.

On the shorter trips it does not even get a little warm.

What can I do in this situation. Is there some problem with electronic unit that controls heating up?

Looking forward for advice.

Thanks,
Larry

[PRD2BDF]

I bet your tstat is stuck open.

[harofreak00]

x2

what does your gauge show as the temp?

[Ragsdale]

You're freezing? or you're engine is freezing?

You could try plugging in you're block heater over night?

[bonnevillain]

your thermostat is not operating correctly. either that or you have a blockage to the heater core. as haro said, what's your temp?

[laimisl]

Temp gauge shows few millimeters over the first mark on it, the heaters air is cold.

What is T-stat and where to find him. Oops just got it, thermostat. You see in summer, my temp shows always to be at 65 to 70C instead of 90C, sometimes in traffic it goes over 90C and then t-stat opens or flips and it is again about 75-80, which is ok, but that is not ok when winter comes and when it is below 32F or 0C.

Guys, please do me a favor, please use use normal lingo, like THERMOSTAT for thermostat, that saves time not asking what that cool word means, ok? Thanks.

So, thing is after I have replaced planum - intake manifold, I have changed thermostat into 85C on (earlier it was 92C or similar), the reason so that intake manifold that is plastic would not die again, as it is expansive.

So what should I do now?

Thanks,
Larry

[bill buttermore]

Make sure you are full of coolant. Large air voids can cause problems. Is the coolant to the top of the radiator when you open the cap when the engine is cold? It should be. If coolant is full, and the car does not warm up, the thermostat, new or old, is stuck open. Yours would not be the first new thermostat to fail. Did you buy a Moto-rad fail safe? Those are known to stick open. Buy a regular thermostat and if it does not have a small "jiggle valve" in the flange, drill a 5/64" hole to provide a path for air to bleed out of the engine. Set the hole at the 12:00 O'Clock position in the thermostat housing. Follow the procedure in Techinfo for Filling Coolant.

[2000Silverbullet]

You were correct to choose the 185 F thermostat.

Stats are cheap and sometimes the quality control is not the best. Yours is probably stuck open.

Replace it and be sure that you bleed all the air out afterwards.

[laimisl]

Thanks, I will do that soonest. It is just unbelievable, that new thermostat could fail, but there is nothing that surprises me anymore.

Before I go to get new thermostat, would you recommend any good brand that fails less? I would not want to have a problem again with thermostat.

Thanks, I see the solution is simple, and I will take care with it soon, and will drill little hole too in the thermostat. Basically I will drill it the way it is in the picture. I understand the coolant may leak via it too, but minimal, and mostly it lets the air go in the bleeder.

Larry.

[bill buttermore]

...would you recommend any good brand that fails less? ...

Actually, the Moto-Rad fail safe, costs more, but is known to open and stay open when it should not. A regular $4 thermostat, say, a Murray, or whatever brand your local auto supply store sells, should be okay. Make sure the little hole you drill is in far enough that the rubber seal does not cover it. Make sure your coolant is full. If you still have no heat after full coolant and new thermostat, flow to the heater core may be blocked, or there may be a problem with the air-mix door actuator having failed with the door closing flow from the heater core.

Check by feeling both heater hoses after installing the new thermostat and filling with coolant. They should both be hot. If one is hot and one is cold, that indicates no flow or occluded flow through the heater core. If they are both hot and you still have no heat, the problem is the air-mix door actuator. You can do a cheap fix to manually move the door to the open position, which will give you heat all the time. Not the best, but better than heat none of the time.

[laimisl]

I will do exactly this what you recommend.

Thanks,
Larry

[laimisl]

Thank you Guys,

I did as you said, drilled little hole and all works fine now, I have heat ok.

Little thing, I have also tested thermostat before I put it in, I put it in boiling water kettle at home to see if it opens ok. Also u can use the thermometer to watch the temperature to see exactly when it opens.

Is the spring in thermostat that opens it or kind of central cylinder?


Recent days has been very cols -16C, and the car has started hard. I have changed spark plugs 5 years ago. Somebody told me that the gaps on the spark plugs are too big, so the spark is not strong enough to start easy especially in cold.

What is the gap distance there it should be? and how do I measure it.

Thanks,

Larry.

[bill buttermore]

Good to be warm

Spark plug gap is .060" Don't install Bosch plugs. NGK TR55 plugs are a good choice. Consider changing the plug wires, too, NAPA Belden premium wires are good. Clean the coil posts and coat them with silicone dielectric grease.

[93RedSled-SSE]

Is the spring in thermostat that opens it or kind of central cylinder? Thanks, Larry.

Glad you asked, because I didn't know either and looked it up. According to this, (http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question248.htm), there's wax in the cylinder that melts at temp, expands and pushes a rod that opens the valve. Yeesh! Wax? Would have never guessed it.

[laimisl]

Thank you both for info for spark plugs and for confirming my thoughts that the cylinder actually moves the thermostat open rather then spring.

Now for spark plug.

When it is -6C (21.2F) it starts ok, but when it is -16C (3.2F) the car is hard to start. The starter and battery turns it well, but it fails to fire up.

I have to turn it quite well for long time to catch up and start firing up.

So any suggestions if the sparks are here at fault.

Any of you adjusted the sparks distance at the end, or you just change to new and done deal?

How often do you change them?

Thanks,

Larry.

[bill buttermore]

The time to diagnose the problem is when it is happening. Pull the plug wire from the coil post, then hold the metal parts slightly away from each other to see if you have spark when you are cranking. Check all six posts. A good spark tells you the CPS, ICM, and coils are OK.

5-yr old plugs and wires are a good place to start for any tune-up. I like to change copper core plugs about every 25-30,000 miles or 3 years. And, if there is any difficulty removing the wires from the plugs, I like to change the wires, too. I would run platinum plugs for maybe 40-50,000, and iridium for up to 100,000 miles as long as I was running miss-free.

The gap should be checked and adjusted if necessary on new conventional plugs with a side and center electrode. The gap opens up with time and wear, so a little tight when new is better than too large a gap.

There are many components that can cause hard start at cold temperatures: plugs, wires, coils, ICM, CPS, IAT sensor, fuel pump check valve, FPR, leaking injector(s) to name some.

[laimisl]

What is

ICM,

CPS,

IAT sensor,

FPR

Where is:

fuel pump check valve,

leaking injector

Thanks,

Larry

[harofreak00]

Check here for some of the acronyms: http://www.pontiacbonnevilleclub.com/fo ... =39&t=1662
ICM = Ignition Control Module (what the ignition coils sit on)
CPS = Crank (or cam) position sensor
IAT = Intake air temp sensor
FPR = Fuel pressure regulator

The fuel pump check valve is located inside the fuel pump, which is inside the fuel tank.

A leaking fuel injector will be on the top of the engine. Shown here, in the bottom left corner of the picture, with the electrical connector and wiring coming from it.

[laimisl]

Thanks for info.

I guess leaking fuel injector would give gasoline smell.

I have spark ok so CPS, ICM, and coils are OK.

What exactly fuel pump check valve does? I have a small noise sometimes from tank, like tiny bzzzzz. Bot when I drive that is ok, can not hear it.

Where to find
IAT = Intake air temp sensor
FPR = Fuel pressure regulator, and how to diagnose if the problem sits with them?

Today was -7C (19.4F) and it started well.

Hope we will locate the problem soon.

Also I added gas line antifreeze and maybe there was too much moisture in the tank?

Regards,
Larry

[harofreak00]

The fuel pump check valve keeps the pressure in the system when you turn off the car. It makes for easier starts. The tiny buzz you hear is the fuel pump running, its normal.

The IAT is located in the back of the airbox, its the only sensor, so it should be pretty easy to find.
The FPR is located in the picture above, with the blue thing on it.

Fuel doesn't freeze until like -100*F, do you think there was water in your gas? Maybe drain the tank and start over?