The '92 Loyale I just picked (NA EA 82 FWD) up seems to run very cool. Now I know it's November, but the gague only makes it about a quarter of the way up. It doesn't even seem very warm to the touch (hoses and such). There are no antifreeze leaks I can see and no smoke. I've put a new radiator cap on but that's all I've had time to do. Any ideas or is this normal.

The thermostat may very well be stuck open, or it could be a colder thermostat than the car is designed for. Are you getting much heat out of the defrost?

Yes, I'm getting heat out of the defrost, it's not super hot but warm at least. I'm planning a flush and fill with new thermostat and hoses this weekend. What temp. is a stock thermostat?

around the 180 mark

Stock is 192 degree. Many people use 180s.

i vote for a stuck thermostat .... do the cooling fans come on?

 

 

 

nipper

stuck or removed thermostat will cause this issue. be observant after replacing the thermostat, take note if one is in there or not. on rare occasions people remove the thermostat as a bandaid for bad head gaskets or coolant leaks somewhere. less heat is less pressure and usually mitigates leaks....for a short time. if it's in there then you're all good, probably just stuck.

 

that being said - different soobs run at different temps. my 97 OBS gauge runs about half way on the scale and that's normal. all my XT6's run around 1/4 of the way. when i first got the OBS i thought something was wrong with it, because the XT6's tend to run so low on the temp gauge. found out it's normal for them, just different scales.

 

so your temp could be normal (never had a car like yours before), but your heater hoses are clogged. that's not that rare for them to be clogged on older vehicles. blow the lines to the heater core out with compressed air or your old garden hose.

The '92 Loyale I just picked (NA EA 82 FWD) up seems to run very cool.

 

Regardless of what's causing the problem, a new thermostat & coolant flush wouldn't be a bad idea. Maybe some new coolant lines, too.

 

-=Russ=-

 

that being said - different soobs run at different temps. my 97 OBS gauge runs about half way on the scale and that's normal. all my XT6's run around 1/4 of the way. when i first got the OBS i thought something was wrong with it, because the XT6's tend to run so low on the temp gauge. found out it's normal for them, just different scales.

 

I had a '87 and and '89 GL, and the '87 freaked me out when I first drove it because it went up to halfway on the temp scale, and I was used to my '89 which always sits at 1/4 on it. Both seem to have decent heat, and they never vary from where they like to sit, so I guess both are okay. I haven't checked to see if one has the 192F thermostat, and the other has the 180F thermostat.

1/4 of the way is about right for my '93 at this time of year, or even most times of year. It might hit 1/3 in the summer, at the top of a long hill.

 

There should be a good blast of heat from the heating system, though. Put it on vent, and full heat, it should be good and hot.