lately (past 3 days) my temp gauge wont stay in the middle....while im driving its usually somewhere near a 1/4 of the way up....and then if i stop the car and let it sit for a little it will start going back up to the middle but never dead center

 

 

any of u guys have this problem before? or is my rs hoodscoop just doing such a great job of keeping things cool all of a sudden

 

its a 96 impreza L

 

 

and before this stupid problem arose....it would read in the middle steady....only going down when u turn off the car

 

 

BTW-sorry for not using any kinds of intellegience when writing this post, but iom really tired right now so im allowed to not make sense

Pull the wire off the temp sender and ground it. It should peg the gauge. If it doesnt you have a bad gauge. If it does your sender is bad, or you have a cooling system problem like a stuck thermostat. This is actually a problem as you would be getting to operating temp where all your emissions components are meant to.

Sounds like a thermostat stuck open to me. How is the heater working? If it's taking longer than usual to heat up the cabin, that confirms the thermostat.

heater works....i havent had time to screw with the temp gauge yet....but whats the worst that could happen if indeed my thermostat is broke?

the heat won't be to hot on cold days, and ur car runs unefficient. but 10 bucks its the thermostat for the needle, not the acual thermostat ($15)

yea thats what im thinking....i just gotta find some time to get to the junkyard and pull one

crazy update.....i was driving today doing deliveries...and when i stopped the car and got out i noticed smoke coming out of my scoop and vents...it wasnt extreme smoke like a fire under the hood...but it definately wasnt normal steam....the guage still read 1/4 way this whole time....

 

so i turn off the car check the radiator, its full and steaming....i couldnt find no leaks and since the car wasnt completely overheated i drove it home

 

on the way home the temp gauge was actually higher than the 1/4 before still not at normal oper. temps but almost.....i cranked the heat on to see if the guage would go back to reading cooler like before and it didnt....i got home it wasnt smoking anymore so now im here....the ride home was only about 6 miles....am i getting little paranoid since i cant read my engine temp anymore or are these symptons from something stupid