engine temp staying cool

[greg318i]

During the summer and fall the engine temp would always be straight up and down.....pretty consitently in the middle. But now its winter....i go to school in bradford. And its cold as hell here, right now the temp is like 5 degrees. And since winter rolled around the needle on the temp gauge hardly makes it past the little blue area while im driving...if idle it will warm up to almost the half way mark. Is this just the extreme cold causing this. Or is there something wrong?

[Furious]

sounds like the thermostat is stuck open how hot or cold is it where you live?

[TECH]

Thermostat. When you drive the car, the forced air through the radiator cools it down. The thermostat isn't keeping the coolant in the engine-it's stuck open.

[greg318i]

at the moment its around 9 degrees...with windchill its -2 farenheit.....

with it stuck open will that damage anything till i can get it fixed. Cause it might take a week or two till i can get some more money...cause im just a poor college kid...

and what needs to be done....about how much would it cost

[greg318i]

another thing....i think my rear shock mounts are going bad....about how much would that cost to repair...

and if i wait a week or so would it cause any collateral damage

[Furious]

Originally posted by greg318i@Jan 14 2004, 01:14 PM
at the moment its around 9 degrees...with windchill its -2 farenheit.....

with it stuck open will that damage anything till i can get it fixed. Cause it might take a week or two till i can get some more money...cause im just a poor college kid...

and what needs to be done....about how much would it cost

stuck open no it will not cause a problem , youll have less heat in the car. but internaly you should be fine. (lots of people actually remove their thermostats in warmer climates or in the summer)

as for shock mounts, id get them done soon. dont put them off too long, they wont really cause to many problems but why take the chance.
RSM's are a common wear part on e36's , talk to our sponsor and see if he can hook you up with some aftermarket RSM's with urathene bushings to last longer and give better performance.

[TECH]

An engine that runs too cool will burn more gas, pollute more, and wear more quickly. The last thing I'd do is take the thermostat out.
But if you can't replace it soon, don't sweat it, nothing major.

[bmw_m3power]

Originally posted by TECH@Jan 14 2004, 07:46 PM
An engine that runs too cool will burn more gas, pollute more, and wear more quickly. The last thing I'd do is take the thermostat out.
But if you can't replace it soon, don't sweat it, nothing major.

I had the same problem, I am going to replace my theromstat next week.

my question is, what will wear more quickly?

[TECH]

Originally posted by bmw_m3power+Jan 15 2004, 01:40 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (bmw_m3power @ Jan 15 2004, 01:40 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-TECH@Jan 14 2004, 07:46 PM
An engine that runs too cool will burn more gas, pollute more, and wear more quickly. The last thing I'd do is take the thermostat out.
But if you can't replace it soon, don't sweat it, nothing major.

I had the same problem, I am going to replace my theromstat next week.

my question is, what will wear more quickly? [/b][/quote]
The pistons, cylinders, rings, valves, guides, cams, etc. The parts expand as they get hotter, and fit tighter together. The engine is designed to be at certain tolerances when it is at normal operating temperature. As an example, in a cold engine, the piston fits relatively loose in the cylinder. It is more prone to wear simply because it moves more inside the bore, side to side, it tends to rock, and all this excess motion causes more wear. A hot engine will have all the parts fitting at a more desireable clearance, for better efficiency, and less wear.

Also, a cold engine runs richer, simply the nature of the programming. A richer combustion mixture dilutes the engine oil around the piston and cylinders as the fuel washes it away. Less oil=more wear.

Ever see an engine that would knock when cold, and go away as it warmed up? That's due to the clearance being taken up by whatever was knocking-it expanded and got tighter.

I'd never take a thermostat out for the above reasons. Many vehicles will set a fault if it doesn't warm up quickly enough-to meet emissions standards. The catalytic converter lasts longer if the engine is hot.

[joeyk]

Engine temp level should always be at the halfway mark when idle but when its this cold its going to take a little longer for the engine to get warm!

[bmw_m3power]

Originally posted by joeyk@Jan 16 2004, 02:50 PM
Engine temp level should always be at the halfway mark when idle but when its this cold its going to take a little longer for the engine to get warm!

that's true but it shouldn't take 1- 2 hours!!!
that is what happen to me, it stay cold for 1-2 hours and I was on highway.