All:
I live in the midwest - ambient temperature was 20 deg.F yesterday morning (probably cooler overnight - car is not garaged). Drove to work - highway onramp is < 1/2 mile from home (so there is not much low-speed driving or traffic lights that allow the car to warm up before I get to the highway). The car took 10 miles (~10 minutes) of highway driving to get to operating temperature (and therefore engage the torque lockup converter).
I saw the same behavior last winter, so this past summer I did the following, since I assumed that the car was running cooler than it should, or taking longer than it should to reach operating temp.
1) Replaced thermostat and gasket (with Nissan parts) 2) Checked upper and lower radiator hoses (they were fine) 3) Replaced ECTS (with Nissan part) 4) Flushes/refilled radiator with 50/50 Prestone Coolant.The warmup behavior has remained unchanged.
Is there anything else I can look for that would cause the car to take a long time to get to operating temperature?
Also, has anyone noticed at which point their car finally allows the torque converter to lock up? i.e. my temperature needle (not accurate
- I understand) is just below the mid-point of the guage before the lockup occurs... when locked-up - I run at 72mph at 2500rpm - when not locked - I am at 68mph at 2500 rpm. Not shifting overdrive gear is a concern since my gas mileage is suffereing (10%) as a result of being stuck in a lower gear for 1/2 my commute.
Once I reach operating temp. the engine temperature remains consistent (i.e. doesn't vary with speed/heat etc), the shifts in/out of overdrive as expected, and I have no problems getting heat, etc. So it is just the initial time required to get to the operating temperature that seems to be too long... (this is of course relative to other cars I have owned/own).
What else could could I check? (No codes are stored in the MIL).
Thanks, Nirav
96 Maxima GLE, 98k