Car running cool

My car is running cool, and I don't know why. It's about 120 degrees. When I bought the car, the guage didn't register, so I replaced the thermostat (I don't remember what temperature, but probably 180), and it came up about 1/4 of the way. Not wanting to mess around with it at the time, I just left it because the heater worked ok. I just replaced it again today with a 203-180(after rolling the car, the door doesn't shut right and the heat is no longer sufficient) and there was no change in the guage reading. Our scan tool said ECT was 120 degrees, and that seemed about right compared to grabbing the hose with my hand. If the car idles for an extended period of time the guage will SLOWLY go up to 1/2 way, then the fan kicks on and the guage drops back down to 1/4. While driving the guage stays at 1/4.

The OE recomended temp is 196 degrees, but 180 shouold run 180, not 120. I went with the lower temp so the fan wouldn't come on at every stop light.

Right now I'm thinking I probably just got two bad thermostats, but we have never had a problem with this brand in any other vehicle.

There's nothing mechanical that could be wrong making it run cool, right?

I think your on to something with buying bad thermostats you could have a thermostat that kicks at a lower temp than its supposed to.

I had the opposite problem though i bought like 4 off brand thermostats that wouldnt kick open before i walked in the parts store and bought the most expensive on that they had and havent had the problem since.

That's ridiculously cool. After a 10-15 minute run at highway speed, it should be getting up to at least 160. I would check the thermostat in a pan of boiling water and check the temp with a thermometer. Watch for it to open and see what the temperature is.

except dont drop it in a pot of already boiling water, which is 212*
put it in the pot, and keep it off the bottom with something to set it on.
watch for it to open and measure the temp



edit:
oops. sorry.
didnt see the date was 10/27 not 11/27