Cold engine?

[zephram22]

Has anyone else had a 99 LTZ that seems to run cold all the time according to the guage? I've had the car for a couple years and the only time that it heats up past 25 percent on the gage is when the car idles or when I get the car stuck in mud or snow.

The therm. is opening and closing properly. I've replaced it and verifyied this fact. And, the heater does blow hot air, sometimes. I have noticed that the heater sometimes has trouble switching between hot and cold air, but I always assumed that this was a valve that was getting stuck and had nothing to do with the engine runnng cold.

[jeffcoslacker]

Your fans cycling properly? One thing to check.

My wife (like a lot of people, I bet) doesn't realize that some positions on your control make the A/C compressor and radiator fans run even in cold weather, like the defrost position and the split defrost/vent position.

So she drives around, complaining about lousy mileage and lackluster heat from the vents, when she's running the A/C and fighting it with the heater, and paying to run an engaged compressor much of the time. Those fans running at the radiator when the compressor engages cause the coolant to run unusually cool, further suppressing the heater's ability to work properly.

Every season I have to "re-train" her about this fact.

The reason they do that is the drying effect of A/C air will clear moisture from inside the cabin that's trying to condense on the cold windows, making the defrost more effective, and it allows the compressor to run at times in the off-season so you won't find it locked up in the following summer from non-use.

[tblake]

my lumina also runs cold all the time, even in winter when its 0 degrees here, I can drive 20 miles, and my temp guage wont get above the lowest part "normal" operating temp. Its not a big deal, but I was going to ask if that affects engine performance always running cold.

[maxwedge]

A scanner should be used to check actual temp, my 3800 Lumina runs at what appears low temp on the dash gage but a scanner reveals 195, good. The ac compressor usually won't run even if commanded at temps below about 38 degrees.