different car this time tho, hehe.. the RX did somethin funny tonight on the way home.. the Temp gauge moved up to 3/4.. i thought that to be a little strange.. but i did notice when i stepped on the clutch and revved to to 5-6k the temp gauge would go down to half.. then a few minutes of normal driving and it was right back up at 3/4..

 

does this make sense?

 

also the heater has barely even been warm.. feels more like ya got a cigarette lighter heating the car.. really.. but when the temp gauge went up, the heater got hotter..

 

at first i was thinkin the heater sucking like that might be a plugged heater core.. but now i'm not sure...

 

anyone got any ideas? i'm going to swap the thermostat tomorrow for sure...

sounds like the thermostat. Does the radiator feel cold?

sounds like it could be trouble with the water pump. it seems to me that when it was revved, the defunct pump was spinning a little better and pushed the coolant through more.

yeah radiator always feels cold..

 

i was thinkin about it, by revving the engine it would force more flow through a stuck thermostat would it not?

 

btw engine was resealed, timing belts, water pump, oil pump, the hole shebang done about 13k ago.. last year...

I would think water pump or thermo. Get a failsafe unit, they fail open.

Tony if you are low on coolant it will also show these signs

tony

 

i replaced the water pump about 6K ago...the last one seized and left me stranded - swapped for an OEM unit. thermostat i dont think i ever replaced, may want to start there?

ok, i knew it hadn't been long since it was replaced, by readin your emails Dennis..

 

i swapped out the thermostat this morning, the old one looked like it was growing moss:cornfuzz: but anyways, put a 180 in there and she runs below the half mark now.. and i don't need the electric fan runnin all the time.. i'm gonna put it on a toggle switch so i can use it on-demand..

I had the same deal with my Rx. I replaced the thermostat and its been fine since.

My RX used to run aroun 1/2 to 3/4 on the temp gauge, I put a chevy 350 thermostat 155m.m. that opens at 160. Now she run about 1/4 to 1/2. usually it only runs at half if I'm in lo-range and pullin 4k or more for long periods of time, usually only on Interstate. So I would say yeah, start with the thermostat and go from there.