Car will not warm up.

[crunchymilk]

Here in Texas I'm used to 80-100 degree temps, even in November. I have No overheating problems, even in hot weather, even with my big FMIC. Fan kicks in right when it should, and temps go down. Well, we recently hit a cold front (around 40-50 degrees at night, and I've noticed that my car will not warm up. The temp gauge rises only from below the bottom, to the very bottom, that's it. If i idle it long enough it will come to where it should be, but then as soon as I start driving around and expose the car to this cold air, the temp goes all the way back down.

From the searching I've done, this might cause the ECU to not get hot enough to wanna enter open loop mode. But it enters open loop just fine at normal times. I know the car has a normal operating temp range, and that I'm obviously not in it if I'm always at the bottom. I have a long trip coming for thanksgiving that will be most likely be in this weather, and I would like to know if I'm causing any damage and how to go about fixing this, or if it's fine. Thanks for reading, any input is appreciated

 

[DSMcrazy3]

haha, that happened to me too. My temp. went to 1/2 normal though. Sorry I don't have any info for you. but we are in the same boat.

 

[steve]

Whenever that has happend to me the thermostat has failed open.

Steve

 

[Defiant]

Correction: failed to close. It's floating about 1/16" ~ 1/8" open. Replace.

 

[crunchymilk]

thanks wisemen, I'll replace it.