coolant temp problem

[neoncruzier]

03' Neon.....Ok problem with my situation is my coolant temp. My car will heat up and blow hot air when leaving it running for about say 20 mins ..but the temp will stay at cold..usually when i leav it running for about 20 mins the temp will rise. It will only rise when it is in motion (drive). Also when u turn the car off for atlease 5 mins n turn it on it will drop close back to cold again..and when u leav it running it will stay close to cold. When in motion again it will rise to regular temp. What could be the problem ?..change thermostat ....to make it worse i live up here n Canada and its cold az hell. but i never had this problem last winter while up here.

[denisond3]

My guess would be that your thermostat is stuck in the open position. If so it will always run quite cold, but if you let it sit idling (and its not windy), the engine will warm up - because there is no air flow through the radiator. If you let idle long enough it should get so warm that the cooling fans will come on for a while. Again this depends on the outside conditions. If its windy and below freezing, the engine will not get all that warm, just from air blowing through the radiator.
If you let it idle long enough for the fans to come on, and the temperature gauge still reads 'cold', then you have some gauge problem I think.

[neoncruzier]

umm, well let see what happens ..i think umma get a new thermostat ..its not much ..give it a try though.but yeah i kinna think it may be stuck but it does warm up and blow hot air..its jus that it won't idle to the right temp until the car is in motion...