Car not coming up to proper temperature

ssnscruzeeco2015 · Jan 19, 2016

Folks,this is a 15 Eco, with no opening above the bowtie, a small opening about thesize of a license plate, below the bowtie, and active shutters at the bottomfor the intercooler.

Enclosed below is a picture of my current grill blocks. Yes the upper one willbe replaced with something better next season.

Notice the cover at the opening at the bottom opening. Fair to say that most ofmy grill openings are covered, I am also monitoring return radiator hose with a10 dollar digital thermometer, with a sensor wrapped with pipe insulation andstrapped to the hard plastic connection by the engine. (highlighted)

At highway speeds in -8 degree Celsius the radiator return temperature onlyreads between 11 and 14 degrees, even after hill climbing.

I don't notice the fan running much other than running AC in defog mode, but itdoes not impact the temperature read on the hose. The fact that the car fogs upso easily is annoying and another thing that I need to address, be nice tomanually disable the AC in defog and defrost modes.
I do not idle my car to warm it up. might only run for a few seconds before it starts rolling, I have my oil pan heater thermostat cut off the cable and the car get warmed up by about 8 degrees after 3 hours of use in the morning. It takes me about 4 Kms of driving before i get to the first 1/4, at which point the cabin fan is operated beyond 2 but not past 3 until fully warmed up, which on my Cruze is about one tick mark below 1/2. Please note my care ECT hovers around 106 to 110 degrees when heated up and operating on the highway, with or without grill blocks.

The grill blocks have accelerated warmup and enable a more stable temperature especially during DFCO mode.

jblackburn · Jan 19, 2016

Once I hit 1/4 on the temp gauge or 160, I crank the heater to 2 or 3. Heat for me > heat for the engine.

UpstateNYBill · Jan 19, 2016

Hazlitt777 said:
Laugh it up. But I guess one doesn't have to worry about this car overheating. Just crank the heat to wide open on a hot summer day and you won't even need a radiator.

I used this exact strategy last winter to get my Cruze home so I could fix it when I discovered that my thermostat gasket was leaking. It only leaked badly when the thermostat was open.

ssnscruzeeco2015 · Jan 19, 2016

it would be interesting to determine how open the thermostat ever gets...., This car is seems prepared for the range of temperatures that could be thrown at it, under load.

Considering on my car with the installed grill blocks and the 90 deg C drop across the radiator indicates a very low flow, at -8 deg C ambient air.

Just want to mention that I poured in a bottle of Hy-Per Lube Super Coolant, I wish I had monitored the radiater hose before hand to measure the delta.

ChevyGuy · Jan 19, 2016

jblackburn said:
Heat for me > heat for the engine.

However, there's a old saying "a cold engine is an old engine". You may have accelerated wear if it's not up to operating temperature.

A Grill block would probably be a good idea to improve both.

Hazlitt777 · Jan 19, 2016

ChevyGuy said:
However, there's a old saying "a cold engine is an old engine". You may have accelerated wear if it's not up to operating temperature.

A Grill block would probably be a good idea to improve both.

I don't see any harm to keeping it in a lower gear so as to keep the engine at 2000 rpms when it is cold. That will warm it up, and yet not be putting the rpms so high as to harm the engine. That may be the best solution.

Jewel Red 5 · Jan 19, 2016

Funny you guys can't get it to temp. mine won't stay cool, My 2011 1.4 auto LTZ after water outlet replaced and recall update mine goes up to 233 on my scan gauge even as high as 243 and fan is on high. Yes coolant is full and system was burped several times. I don't get it it was 8 degrees last nite on highway temp got to 233 pulled over and opened hood fan was engage why won't the thermostat open sooner to cool motor fan should not be on at 8 degrees out. I even removed the 2 blank spacers a few years ago on the side of the grill that blocks some air from getting to radiator. Been back to dealer 4 times was told car is running normal. I don't think so also just so happens my powertrain warranty runs out next week how convenient.

jblackburn · Jan 19, 2016

Jewel Red 5 said:
Funny you guys can't get it to temp. mine won't stay cool, My 2011 1.4 auto LTZ after water outlet replaced and recall update mine goes up to 233 on my scan gauge even as high as 243 and fan is on high. Yes coolant is full and system was burped several times. I don't get it it was 8 degrees last nite on highway temp got to 233 pulled over and opened hood fan was engage why won't the thermostat open sooner to cool motor fan should not be on at 8 degrees out. I even removed the 2 blank spacers a few years ago on the side of the grill that blocks some air from getting to radiator. Been back to dealer 4 times was told car is running normal. I don't think so also just so happens my powertrain warranty runs out next week how convenient.

Feel the radiator hoses once you pass 230. The top should be hot and bottom one warm at least. If they're not, your thermostat is not opening, or at least as much as it should be.

jblackburn · Jan 19, 2016

ChevyGuy said:
However, there's a old saying "a cold engine is an old engine". You may have accelerated wear if it's not up to operating temperature.

A Grill block would probably be a good idea to improve both.

Nah. I just drive short distances. At 160-180F, I reckon the engine's just fine. Heater to that point is kept off, as it just takes it longer to warm up.

Christopher_2 · Jan 20, 2016

Yep, I live in MN and it was -15 this morning. I remote start Brittany, give her a few minutes to get things lubed up. Then I drive her down the highway at 58mph for 12 miles and she warms up. Turning the heater on high while driving 58MPH temp drops a little but does fine. Pull into town at a stop light and I can watch the temp fall. But by then the interior is warm and I can turn the fan speed down.

_MerF_ · Jan 20, 2016

Do our thermostats just remain wide-open or something? The fan should be irrelevant because the thermostat should regulate the amount of coolant that is flowing through the system.

Unless that process doesn't work like it used to?

jblackburn · Jan 20, 2016

_MerF_ said:
Do our thermostats just remain wide-open or something? The fan should be irrelevant because the thermostat should regulate the amount of coolant that is flowing through the system.

Unless that process doesn't work like it used to?

No, it's closed until the wax ring is melted (the "electronic" part of this thermostat is that the car has a built-in heater to melt that ring when it wants to command the thermostat to open, e.g., a demand for power or high load in the summer).

However, if a thermostat spring or something failed, I guess it might not open enough/at all, and the car not knowing that, begins to run the cooling fan in an attempt to provide more airflow across the radiator.

Usually they're built to fail in the open position, though.

Christopher_2 · Jan 20, 2016

Most of us are talking about the fan on the heater core used to heat the interior of the car, the one that controls how much air flow you get inside the cabin of the vehicle. A heater core is a small radiator that uses the waste heat from the engine to warm the inside of the car. Problem is there is there may not be enough waste heat at temperatures of -15 degrees F to heat the car, that small heater core and fan cool the motor.

_MerF_ said:
Do our thermostats just remain wide-open or something? The fan should be irrelevant because the thermostat should regulate the amount of coolant that is flowing through the system.

Unless that process doesn't work like it used to?

Jewel Red 5 · Jan 20, 2016

jblackburn said:
Feel the radiator hoses once you pass 230. The top should be hot and bottom one warm at least. If they're not, your thermostat is not opening, or at least as much as it should be.

Your right the bottom hose is cool not warm so is it the thermostat or the sensor on top of thermostat.

_MerF_ · Jan 20, 2016

Christopher_2 said:
Most of us are talking about the fan on the heater core used to heat the interior of the car, the one that controls how much air flow you get inside the cabin of the vehicle. A heater core is a small radiator that uses the waste heat from the engine to warm the inside of the car. Problem is there is there may not be enough waste heat at temperatures of -15 degrees F to heat the car, that small heater core and fan cool the motor.

Yeah I was following that. My point was that the heater core only gets as hot as the coolant (and likewise, the engine). So if the thermostat is wide open and coolant is constantly flowing the engine can never reach it's ideal operating temp, therefore the heater core will never warm up enough to heat the air in the cabin.

txcruze26 · Jan 21, 2016

so my girlfriend got her cruze in july, since then, the car temp gauge always gets to the last notch right before the middle, is this normal?

ChevyGuy · Jan 21, 2016

txcruze26 said:
so my girlfriend got her cruze in july, since then, the car temp gauge always gets to the last notch right before the middle, is this normal?

One tick "cold" of middle is absolutely normal. That's it's "home".

txcruze26 · Jan 21, 2016

ChevyGuy said:
One tick "cold" of middle is absolutely normal. That's it's "home".

thanks for the info!

AutumnCruzeRS · Jan 21, 2016

ChevyGuy said:
However, there's a old saying "a cold engine is an old engine". You may have accelerated wear if it's not up to operating temperature.

A Grill block would probably be a good idea to improve both.

With conventional oil yes. Not so much anymore with the Dexos and Synthetic oils.

ChevyGuy · Jan 21, 2016

AutumnCruzeRS said:
With conventional oil yes. Not so much anymore with the Dexos and Synthetic oils.

Perhaps. As I recall the point of the saying was that the engine didn't fit together quite right - much like an old engine.

Car not coming up to proper temperature

ssnscruzeeco2015

jblackburn

UpstateNYBill

ssnscruzeeco2015

ChevyGuy

Hazlitt777

Jewel Red 5

jblackburn

jblackburn

Christopher_2

_MerF_

jblackburn

Christopher_2

Jewel Red 5

_MerF_

txcruze26

ChevyGuy

txcruze26

AutumnCruzeRS

ChevyGuy

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