97 escort heat

[msdz]

I read the article about the 99? Escort heat and did some searching around but nothing really covered my problem that I found. Anyway, my problem is my Escort takes forever to heat up. I have not had it to awfully long, slightly over a month maybe but yesterday and today when it was the coldest days we have had so far I noticed my temperature gauge hardly moves at all unless I am idling for a long period of time.
The when the gauge started to move I had to drive about 1 mile down the road at about 35 MPH and the gauge went back down to showing nothing. So, I am wondering if I even have a thermostat in my car. I drove it this morning at 16*F for about 8-10 miles and it never moved at all plus I let it idle at least 5 minutes before taking off in hopes to clear off some frost on the front window. Of course it didn't remove any frost, I had to use my windshield washer fluid(Rain-X bug & de-icer) and wipers. How long should it normally take for most Escorts to warm up to a normal operating temperature?
I have only seen my temperature gauge at about the 1/4 mark on my Escort once but that was also when the temperature outside was about 70*F and I had drove it for maybe 20 miles. Is that about the right spot(1/4 way up) on the gauge for the normal operating temperature as well?
I plan on changing the thermostat just to be on the safe side, I am afraid the young boy that owned it before I did may have removed the thermostat completely. Also, would 195*F be right to use, what do most of you have for your thermostats temperature?

[GTP Dad]

I think your assessment is correct. If it takes that long to heat up then the thermostat is either stuck in the open position or not there at all. A 195 stat is probably the best for stock performance and it should put out plenty of heat after you change it.

[AzTumbleweed]

As a temporary measure you can put a piece of cardboard in front of the radiator. Block off about 75% of it and you should get some heat.

[msdz]

This is something I noticed yesterday while driving the car. I drove it about 30 minutes and it had heated up pretty good while driving down the road and of course it was throwing out some good heat. I picked my sister-in-law up from school, while waiting for my wife and sister-in-law to come out I was just idling. The temperature gauge went almost all the way down until I started moving again. So, with this I now am starting to think the impeller on the water pump may be the problem, not circulating enough fluid at an idle but able to while driving.

Another forum I visit people on there said the 3rd generation Escorts had terrible problems with the thermostat housing itself going bad. The thermostat housing has a plastic ball valve that will melt if the coolant temperature gets to high causing something to get bypassed or something like that. So a lot of the people on this Escort/Tracer forums only said to completely replace the thermostat housing AND if I buy the right kit from Rock Auto it will come with new sensors, thermostat, and gasket for about $86.
I was actually thinking of doing that AND replacing the water pump as well to be on the safe side. A new water pump I think runs about $60, well worth the extra security.

[tripletdaddy]

Uh-uh. If the impeller wasn't able to pump enough, while idling, the engine would have gotten hotter, not colder. While parked, the pump circulated the hot coolant through the assumed stuck open tstat and was rapidly cooled by the radiator because of the extreme cold. At this time, the engine is also producing a minimum amount of heat compared to driving down the road. Thus resulting in very low coolant temperature, as measured near the tstat housing, which is at the back end of the engine and the location of the highest water temp as it is just leaving the engine. This is also where the heater hose originates, so of course when the engine is generating the most heat while driving, you are going to have lots of heat inside! The tstat is supposed to close when the coolant cools like when idling, but it will reopen once hot enough, and will cycle like this over and over. This is to keep the engine at optimal operating temp and keep the heater core temp up. Instead, you are ALWAYS cooling the coolant even when it doesn't need it, thus resulting in the extra cold coolant temp reading. I don't expect at all you have a bad impeller.

Another test would be to feel and squeeze the upper and lower radiator hoses, the heater hoses and the bypass hose, if it has one. At fully warmed up temp, which sounds impossible at idle, the hoses should all be very hot, and firm. The lower rad hose will be much cooler and softer. You should be able to tell that the tstat is opening and closing by the changes of the temp and firmness of the radiator hoses. At first start up, the upper hose should not get hot like the heater or bypass hoses until the tstat opens, only then will it get frim and hot while the other two will be. With a stuck open tstat, all the hoses, with exception to the lower rad hose, will be similarly firm and warm, and will all warm up evenly at the same time. This clearly would indicated an open tstat.