Hello
I drove my sisters 2000 VW Passat V6 to work this morning.
I drove about 20 miles in 20 minutes (aver 60mph) all freeway except for a mile at the beginning and at the end, getting on and off the Freeway.
The outside temp was 56 F.
The water temperature gauge slowly came up; it took about 10 minutes to reach two lines to the left of center scale (center scale - 190F). I would have thought that it would reach the full running temp center scale of 190 by this time.
I drove another 10 minutes and the needle stayed in the same position, two division marks below (to the left) of center scale.
As I exited the freeway the temp and drove about a mile to my office the temperature increased about half a division mark, now about 1.5 marks below center.
I don't know if this is correct behavior as this is my first time driving the car. However I am use to a car coming up to temp a bit faster.
My concern is an open thermostat? The thermostat is a big job on this car, so I don't want to have it replace unless I am certain.
Any ideas?