-35C here this morning.
>
> My daily commute is about 35kms, mostly highway. I started the car
> and allowed it to run for about 5 minutes. The block heater was
> plugged in, so no excuses for being too cold. After the brief warmup,
> its about 100ft to the highway, then highway speeds.
>
> The temp gauge never moved the whole way to the city (20kms). I
> finally got it to go to about 1/4 by running in a lower gear at higher
> RPM, but it normally runs around 1/2. And when I came to red lights
> in the city, the temp gauge would go down to 0 within a minute.
>
> Called the dealer today, and just like every other problem I have
> (touchy brakes, rattles), 'its normal operation' and he recommended I
> don't run the heater fan at full blast. Problem is, at 1/2, the
> heater barely warms up the interior of the car. However, with the
> heater fan running slower, I was able to get the car to the normal
> spot on the gauge after about 25 minutes.
>
> We got this 2008 civic LX in January 2007. Never noticed any problems
> last winter, but it really was never this cold either. The car has
> 32000kms on it, 2 oil changes.
>
> I have checked the coolant level in the radiator and the resevoir, and
> both are perfectly fine. Entertained damming the radiator with
> cardboard, however, the outside surface of the rad is not accessible
> without removing one of the plastic shrouds on the bumper. At these
> temps, its not enjoyable to be outside working on this, and besides,
> the plastic clips would just break due to the temperature (already > broke 1).
>
> I have seen some Civic hybrid forums talk about using pipe insulation
> from Home Depot to block the openings in the grill. I may try that
> yet, but I just have this feeling that something is wrong. I have
> owned many Hondas, and have never had a problem with the vehicle
> reaching operating temperature.
>
> Has anyone else experienced this problem? Anything I am missing here? >
> Thanks
> Terry in Winnipeg
Hi live in Winnipeg too and my 2001 honda civic is doing exactly the same thing. Please let me know if you find out what is causing this to happen.