Thermostat closed or open?

I would like to know if this thermostat is open or closed:

http://www.geocities.com/serge_saati/thermostat.jpg

It comes from my 1995 Hyundai Accent 1.5L. Currently it's cold (75°F).

I ask this because my car takes 3 miles to warm up, so I thought that my thermostat was stuck opened.

So I pick up my thermostat but I don't know if it's closed or opened.

Forget that, I found the answer myself. It's closed, so it's good.

But I still don't know why my car takes 3 miles to warm up???

Did the car used to warm up in those three miles? How fast are you driving those three miles, and how much stop-and-go is it? Are you judging "warm up" by the guage or by the heater (which doesn't seem relevant if it's 75 F)? If you're going strictly by the gauge, the sensor for the gauge could be bad.

-Rod

I got this car since this summer and it always warm up slowly.
I'm driving at 30 mph and I make 4 stop-in-go in the route.

Sometime I hit the gas so it can warm faster but it doesn't make any differences.

I'm judging "warm up" from the gauge, since it reaches the operating temperature. It's 3 miles.

The heater takes 1.8 miles to start heating.

When I said 75°F, it was because I pick up the thermostat to my house to take the picture, so it's internal temperature was 75°F.

The outside temperature is -11°F.

I'm not sure I'd determine there's a problem with the cooling system based on your description. Getting heat after 1.8 miles with such a cold outside temp seems reasonable. If your temp guage has risen from the full cold range to partly towards the normal range, that seems about right. In a 3 mile drive with it so cold outdoors you probably won't get to the middle of the temp gauge, but it sounds like it does which seems good. What you're experiencing is a lot of what caused the remote car starter craze.

If the heat gauge isn't moving at all during those 3 miles, but you're still getting heat after 1.8 miles, then you might have a faulty coolant temperature sensor.

Also, if you are using your blower motor on high during those first couple of miles, you're actually cooling the engine coolant somewhat. You'd be better off to keep the blower motor on the low setting, then once you start to feel heat, turn it up.

Have you tried letting your car warm up for 5 minutes or so prior to starting your journey to work? If you can safely try this, you might and see if you get heat much sooner.

-Rod

Replace the thermostat anyways. They're like $5-8 and they could give you hell if they fail in traffic. Either way, yours looks like crap LOL. But some cars are just poor at warming up, while others are designed to warm up quickly. I had an '95 Eagle Vision which reached operating temperature in like 1 Mile even in cold weather. The current car I have, which is a 93' honda civic, is the biggest piece of shit. It takes like 5 miles to reach operating temperature.