Cool running

[Captain Beaky]

In the cold weather we've been having recently my car (07 V8V) has been running very cool - temperature gauge at 1/4 or even less. It's fine in traffic, gauge sitting happily half way up as normal, but if I'm running along at motorway speeds it cools right down.

Does anyone else see this ? My dealer gave it a quick look over and couldn't find anything wrong.

[rick-derby-]

how has the heating been does it seem to take a long time or longer than normal to get hot air coming from the heater,

[Captain Beaky]

Yes, if the car's running cold the heating does underperform. Luckily I have the heated seats.

[rick-derby-]

I would suspect your thermostat is stuck open, easily tested with a non contact thermometer, but does require the car to be cold before testing, if it is this you should also notice an increase in fuel consumption,

[Captain Beaky]

Thanks Rick, that's very useful.

I don't pay much attention to the fuel consumption so I don't know whether that has changed. All I need to do now is figure out how to get my car to the dealer with a cold engine...

[rick-derby-]

if it was just left with them a few hours they should be able to diagnose it in that time,

[DaveB101]

I'm suffering from exactly the same problem on my 56 plate vantage... If it's really cold out then my temperature gauge hardly moves, even after 30 mins plus of motorway driving - which means there's very little warm air coming out of the vents. It'a fine when u hit some traffic; it'll warm up then and start pumping out warm air. Be interested to know if any other owners have noticed the same thing on their cars?

I'm wondering what to do now as the car is out of warranty....

[Captain Beaky]

DaveB101 said:

I'm wondering what to do now as the car is out of warranty....

Mine runs out on Friday so I'll be getting this sorted out sooner rather than later !

P.S That's a great colour car, Dave

Edited by Captain Beaky on Tuesday 26th January 21:39

[tuscaneer]

07 v8 for me,i`ve noticed the same thing but i haven`t been overly concerned to be honest.should i be? i`ve just put it down to unusually cold weather

[Captain Beaky]

My car is booked in for a thorough cooling system check on Tuesday so I'll report back.

[rick-derby-]

if the thermostat is stuck open the engine takes far to long for the engine to warm up, during the warm up the engine runs on the engine coolant temperature so the car will be running rich, as the oxygen sensors do not work until fully hot, and during cruising the temperature can drop so again the car is running on the ect sensor, short term this shouldn't cause any problems long term cats can get blocked also carbon build within the engine, plus higher fuel costs and feeling cold within the car, as a rough guide to replacement of a thermostat would be at a specialist around £160.00

[Captain Beaky]

My car went in for a check at the dealer today and was given the all-clear. Apparently all the thermostatic components of the cooling system behaved as expected, opening and closing properly when expected. On a test drive they noticed the same drop in the gauge as I did but didn't think it was anything to worry about.

So, I'll just put it down to paranoia for now. I wonder if I moved my number plate back up it would help...

[rick-derby-]

Captain Beaky said:

My car went in for a check at the dealer today and was given the all-clear. Apparently all the thermostatic components of the cooling system behaved as expected, opening and closing properly when expected. On a test drive they noticed the same drop in the gauge as I did but didn't think it was anything to worry about.

So, I'll just put it down to paranoia for now. I wonder if I moved my number plate back up it would help...

As the gearbox oil cooler is the main one behind the lower grille i would not be concerned, the upper grille is more for engine cooling, I must admit I have not seen the gauge dropping during normal operation and would be interested if you are ever in my neck of the woods to have a look just out of curiosity, Or for that matter anyone else who has seen this on their car,

[OliHall]

Hi,

My 07 does this. It runs very cool at about 1/4 of the temp gauge if the weather is cold and you are driving on the motorway. When you slow down and stop in traffic it usually comes up to about 1/2 and then stays there. Sometimes is goes back down to 1/4 if you drive for another long stretch on the motorway.

I asked works service to look at it when it was in last and they said there was nothing wrong. I would like to get a 2nd opinion as the warranty runs out soon.

thanks,
Oli.

[Murph7355]

OliHall said:

Hi,

My 07 does this. It runs very cool at about 1/4 of the temp gauge if the weather is cold and you are driving on the motorway. When you slow down and stop in traffic it usually comes up to about 1/2 and then stays there. Sometimes is goes back down to 1/4 if you drive for another long stretch on the motorway.

I asked works service to look at it when it was in last and they said there was nothing wrong. I would like to get a 2nd opinion as the warranty runs out soon.

thanks,
Oli.

Mine does this when it's been *really* cold.

I simply assumed that even with the thermostat closed the coolant wasn't getting warmed up enough to register more.

[Captain Beaky]

Murph7355 said:

Mine does this when it's been *really* cold.

I simply assumed that even with the thermostat closed the coolant wasn't getting warmed up enough to register more.

That was the opinion of my dealer too.

If you live in a properly cold country I guess the needle doesn't get above a quarter for several months... Anyone ?

Having had a TVR I take a keen interest in engine temperature

[gary.taylor17]

Me too, just thought it was one of aston's quirks.just never seems to get hot in the car.

[Jay_Davis]

Its been REALLY cold here this winter and my 09 V8V gets up to normal temperature really fast (less than 10 minutes) and stays there. The interior also heats up very quickly (so fast that you really don't need to use the heated seats).

I guess its possible that the issue you are seeing only affects the 08 and earlier (4.3 engine) cars.

[Rye p]

I had that problem a month ago and the dealer installed a new thermostat in my 06 Vantage.
I thought it was the cold temperatures but they where right, now my car warms up faster and the temp gauge never goes lower than half. ( even if I run in the freeway at 32 F or 0 C )

[dudleybloke]

its not john candys best film.