Cold, not Kool!

[Ernzo]

Hello,

My 84 GW runs cold in the winter. With the ambient outside temp at about 20-30 degrees, running on the hwy. and streets for about 30 minutes, she barely gets above the mark. Sometimes she stays below the mark. (what is that mark at, 190?)

I bought a 195(190?) degrees thermostat and will put that sucker in as soon as things warm up here in Denver (curently 1 degree!).

I do not know what is in there now.
My question is to get any reports from others in cold climates as to what their temp guage reads, does it *ever* get to 'normal', anyone using a 205 thermostat, anyone try retarding the timing a little for heat? My pre-heat tube and heat riser are all perfect, so I am fairly sure my equipment is fine. My air cleaner sensors are all working as well. I am guessing that covering the grill would be an option, as I know that these beasts do NOT want to run cold or even kool.

btw, the 'touch the radiator pipe' test indicates the thermostat is opening, the heater is working, but slow to get there.

To Kool in Denver

[wagdriver]

Sounds like the thermostat you have is stuck wide open. Changing it should cure your problem. If it stays below 20 degrees the card board in front of the radiator my be your best option even with a good thermostat. The 195 degree thermostat means that it is fully open at 195 degrees if I am not mistaken. ;)

[Michael]

Yeap... the 195 should do the trick. I will not see that temp here.Burrrrrrrrrrr. But is will be in the 20's by tomorrow. Mine in the 30's will warm up to about 195 when it is cold. So you should be fine with the 195. Good luck....And stay warm...

[JNErotten]

I'm just curious? Have you ever turned on your heater and had a faint smell of something steamy/chemicaly? Also, did your windsheild ever fog up when you put the heater on? I ask because, if your heater core has a hole it it, then lots of water can steam out without you noticeing, but will fog your windsheild. Your system isn't made to lose water through the bypass so sometimes it misses your sender. You could be low, looks full in the radiator, and the whole time no water is being left in your top half thanks to the core. I mention the chemical smell because most people have at one time or another used a stopleak, and steaming chemicals are unmistakable. Kinda like pee.

Just an idea,
J

[JNErotten]

PS I think you meant your touch test produced warm results. Thats what let me to that last post. Top half (thermo, intake) is getting hot from no water, but the guage is reading air temp cause no water is making it back because your losinge it. A guage will always read cooler when it is reading air as opposed to water.

[Ernzo]

Thanks for the input, I have had a leaky core, bummer! This ones good, the return hose 'touch test' is just that, and water is flowing. My experience with a stuck thermo is that the vehicle will nevr get warm, and the heater will never blow hot, or even warm. This heater does blow fairly hot in these cold days, and the vehicle *starts* to warm up. I am betting that I have the 160 or a 180 in there. A 205 is available, anyone ever try that one?

3 degrees in Denver...

E

[J20fan]

I am running a 195 in both of mine. The needle rides about centre in both. -17 this morning and I drive 30 miles on the hiway to work. I just replaced the one in the Wag it was stuck partially open and the needle would only read about 1/4, just above the cold line. Had good heat but it took a while to warm up. I do not think I would want to run a 205 it would be too hot for mine.

[gc4x4]

am running the 195F thermostat.. during the cold months here in Chicago, it takes a couple of miles, depending on the wind chill, to get out of the blue zone... that's after idling for a couple of minutes right after cranking it up...

[tuckers89GW]

Mine runs at the mark below 240. doesn't matter if it is 100 degrees or -30 degrees. just takes a couple of extra miles to get there.(but not long)

[McBain]

I just recently had a problem with my 95 SS where I wasn't getting any heat. At first I thought it was the thermostat because I was running a 160F so I placed carboard in front on 1/3 of the radiator with no change. I then switched back to the stock 180F and still didn't get enough heat. I had recently pulled the heads and some of the gasket material went into the water passages when I scraped them clean. I ended up pulling the hoses to the heater core and placing the garden hose to each heater hose several times to flush the core out (pressurizes the core back and forth forcing the matter out). After several cycles I hooked everything back up and now I get plenty of heat. Just a thought. I would also start with the thermostat before flushing the heater core but if it doesn't work I would try flushing the heater core.

[Rogue]

two often overlooked items i've run into in the past ( im from a snow state though now living in sunny florida ) is a defective radiator cap and using a 50/50 antifreeze/water mix. sounds too simple to be true but it is. both the pressure from the radiator cap and the proper antifreeze mix allow the coolant to reach a higher boiling point and boiling coolant means air in the system which means ineffecient heat transfer, blah blah blah good luck hope this helps

[Ernzo]

Thanks for the replies, FSJ team! I am thinking that my thermostst is indeed either a low temp unit, or staying open (not closing).

I will install the 195 tomorrow and I am hopefull that will do the trick.

[Dive 30]

Just another thought. I had this happen on my Jeep and really confused me. Same symptoms as you, would get warm, but not hot, would take forever to get warm. It turned out the DAPO had installed the thermostat upside down in the housing. The other thing to think about is if you are planning on keeping that t-stat all the time or if it will give you overheat probs this summer. I just put in a 185 deg T-stat and a four core GDI heat buster so that this summer I can run the AC and not over heat. Just another thought.

Phil

[Ernzo]

I put the new thermostat is this afternoon. The old one was, well, old. The gasket was toast, completely falling apart. The job took about 20 minutes, after I drained the coolant. The new thermostat is one of the new, non-spring, kind. I have heard that these are better in that they tend to open closer to the desired temp rather than slowly finally reaching the top.

WHile down there I discovered a trany fluid line going to the stock trany cooler under the radiator was about to fall off. So, that little gem of a discovery made the entire job worthwhile even if the temp issue is not resolved. I love that way that works with these jeeps....

Now it is warm here today, so I cannot report ay results, but the job is done, and i did replace some coolant which is a good thing.

I am going to back fluch the heather core as well, that was a great suggestion and looks easy to do. Just like Baseball. NOT!

:D

[Marvin Gates]

Ernso, I had the problem of the tempeture fluxuating and the heat from the heater was a little bit warmer than air conditioning in the summer, I put a new heater core in and fixed everything all at once. Last year (winter) I flushed the heater core out and it worked ok for a while but the heater never worked the way I thought it should have, Now I have smoking hot air out of the heater, it gets pretty cool hear also, and I run the fan on low speed and it will still run you out of there. Hope this might give you another idea to think about. At one time the guy who owned my wag before me let it sit for 9 years, I think thats what cause me a lot of grief.