Replacement thermostat

[smokingman]

Car details:- 8th gen Tourer 2.2iDtec.

My car has never really got hot even when the temp is set to the hottest setting, was thinking that the thermostat may need replacing. If so how easy to do.

 

[csak1981]

If you can get an obd2 adapter and the torque pro app you can observe the coolant temp sensor and see if your thermostat is working.
My thermostat is fine and I've noticed driving around in the colder months around town that thermostat doesn't get the chance to open as coolant temp rarely gets to 78degrees.
78 degrees is when the thermostat should start to open in the idtec 08-12 years. 80 or 82 degrees for facelift.

When your trying to heat yourself up by putting the climate control on a high setting all you're doing is slowing down the time it'll take for the engine to get to operating temp which in turn is not a very hot high setting.
If you can get on to fast road speeds or mostly on throttle driving all is good but I've seen myself driving around town in the colder months for 45 mins to an hour before engine gets to operating temp. The coolant temp actually will drop whilst waiting at lights with heating on. Drive to next set of lights and gain a few degrees coolant temp then loose some whilst waiting at the next set.
Although the dashboard engine temp gauge tells you that you've reached operating temp by it not rising any further, going by the torque app and my honda hds software this is only around 58 degrees coolant temp. The needle doesn't show the extra 20 degrees the engine still has to heat up to get to operating temp which is around 78 in winter and 80 in summer.

If you want to check thermostat then get the torque pro app and obd2 adapter then get yourself on the motorway. Your coolant temp should creep up to around 80-82 degrees as the thermostat is still opening sending coolant to the radiator then should settle between and fluctuate between 77 and 80 degrees.

 

[smokingman]

Hi all,
Just installed Car Scanner a Torque like app, and even after a 15 mile drive to work the temp is only reading 68 degrees, so could the thermostat be stuck open? The temp gauge was half way.

 

[csak1981]

Hello again, that's pretty much same as mine. You'll notice driving for longer that it should eventually get to 78 or thereabouts.
If you have the heating up hi and fans on more than setting 1 whilst In stop start traffic it can take an absolute age to get to full coolant temp.
When I switched to my first diesel which was an insignia I noticed it didn't heat up as fast as a petrol but our accords are even worse.

To confirm thermostat is ok quickest way is to get yourself on motorway fan speed 1 with heat set to lowest (or just switch climate control off) and monitor coolant temp on your app. If thermostat is fine you should get to 78 degrees after it goes to around 80-82 degrees. Should only take around 20 mins on motorway.
If it doesnt get up to 78 then your thermostat is stuck closed.

I changed my thermostat when I first got the car and there was no change, it's just the way they are.