Sticking thermostat?

[toffoboy]

Took car out for a run, started in town and temp guage showed around 85 most of the time.

Stopped for a while and engine cooled. When I started out again the run took me straight out onto dual carriage way before the engine had fully warmed up. Took it easy for the car to warm up properly, however it got to 70 and stayed there. I assumed it might be a misreading guage but when I did end up in traffic the engine temp then went up to the 85 it normally sits at. Once at 85 it stayed there and didn't go any lower.

Would a sticking thermostat cause this?

Mind you couldn't spoil the fun of a good drive out, even if it were a bit chilly with the roof off.

[johno]

Don't worry this is normal behaviour .... cold air into the bay seems to affect the water temo sensor and the engine almost seems to overcool.

On a run late at night in France 2yrs ago mine was showing just below 60 degrees with a 82 degree stat in ....

[david beer]

If you have the "spare" sender on the head, you can use that as it doesnt under read as its actually in water! Just a variable resistor to calibrate it.

[toffoboy]

Thanks for the relpies.

David, where is this spare sender likely to be? I have looked in the bible and could find no reference to it.

Took the car out for a run today and all was OK with the temp. Would be nice just to confirm that all is OK if I can find the 'Spare' sender.

[GreenV8S]

[redacted]

[david beer]

The original sender on many cars is behind the dizzy but its on a pipe extension so its end doesnt reach the water. If you have the "spare" it will be on top of the head ,next to the posh ECU temp sender, it has a single round 4mm connector. Or you could try wrapping the pipe,just like lagging a water pipe!

[GreenV8S]

Standard sensor not into the inlet manifold? In that case you should be telling people to use one of te sensor bosses which *are* in the inlet manifold. Oh, you were! sorry