The check gage light came on today after a short trip and when I looked my temp gage was pegged at the high end. I pulled over and turned on the heater on high and the temp dropped down enough to turn the trouble light off and drive home on.
I just recently moved back from a warm climate and have been driving and parking outside (Chicago) in very cold temps for the first time in years.
I pulled in it in the heated garage to let everything thaw for a few hours and then started it and let it idle and it went back to the high end after about 15-20 minutes.
Coolant reservoir is at the proper level. When I turn on the heater it heats up and blows hot air and the engine temp drops so that tells me that the waterpump is at least providing flow. At the same time the top radiator hose is warm but not as hot as I would expect.
This all leads me to believe that the thermostat is stuck.
My repair manual is packed up in some warehouse right now so I can't check it. Do all of these indications make sense for a stuck thermostat? How hard is it to replace on this car (I've done them on several other cars).
I also did a google search and found a thread that recommended using only original for thermostats due to a better design for this model. Anyone else know about this.
As always thanks in advance for any help,
Steve