my engine is not warming up as easily as before. the needle always was in the middle. not after even a 15 min ride the needled might not even move???

 

coolant temp sensor or isit just cold as **** out now?

 

check the vac line to the egr valve and the plastic air tube to the egr also. If either are broken/damaged, they take FOREVER to warm up

 

i have a 2.8 and it doesnt matter how cold it is there is no wa that woudnt move.

 

Bogie is right: coolant temp sensor.[/align]It is really easy to change it on 1.8t engine a little trickier on V6. [/align]Not a big trouble though.[/align]

 

You can find info on the interenet.

 

I'm gonna jump in on this thread instead of starting a new.

Is this sensor the one that is on the passenger side of the engine in between the firewall and the engine. Kind of a pain to get to and has a 4 wire plug?
My wife's temp gauge seemed to stop working and I was gonna start with the sensor. The car is also running like crap at idle. Am I starting in the right place to fix the problem?

 

yea thats it....i just took mine out..and it took me forever(if u know the trick its nothing). any questions just ask.

 

Do you have heat?

 

Had the same problem with a 2000 2.8L. Turns out it was a stuck-open thermostat, a $35 part you can buy pretty much anywhere.

The bad news is that it's mounted directly to the block, behind the timing belt cover which you can't access without removing the whole nose, and patially removing the radiator and radiator support to gain acccess. $450 in labor (at an indy shop) to change a $35 part. Brilliant bit of engineering there, oh ya.

Fortunately, even though the car only had 50K or so on it by then, when they pulled the timing belt cover off it was clear that the belt, tensioner, and water pump where well on their way out so we replaced all that too, saving significant labor cost down the road and possibly the engine itself. The tensioner was nearly siezed, which glazed and crack the belt, and the water pump pulley was wobbly. Awesome.

BTW, the sensors, egr thing, etc. all checked out, it really was "just" a broken thermostat. Next up: clean out or replace the cabin heater core so that it can be comfortably driven in sub 45 degree weather. God help me if the heater core is shot, I'm pretty sure they started with that part and built the whole car around it!

Lots of cooling related problems on this particular car...did I mention that it's on it's 3rd radiator, and still has a minor coolant leak somewhere (at 60K) that nobody's been able to find yet? My guess is that all the short trips are the culprit, they really are designed for long drives vs. short thermal cycles. I just took in on a 3000 mile trip with fresh oil which dissolved about half the visible sludge seen under the oil cap, and the motor pulls harder and idles smoother than it ever has.
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