I'm a new driver so excuse my ignorance only really took any notice of the temp guage recently so slowly understanding how motors work.
I'm aware that in winter cars take longer to reach operating temperature but I've noticed that when it does get there it doesn't always stabilise.
Through out journeys the temp gauge will go up and down (maybe every mile or so) which seems odd as i'd of thought it would only increase and stabilise at operating temperature as the mileage of the journey accumulates.

Hi.

There is a thermostat in the car cooling system.. which should....

Stay closed to let the engines heat build.. then open a little.. letting hot water flow to the radiator...in turn allowing chilled water from the radiator cool the engine.

I have noticed in this COLD weather.. that some of my FIATs are struggling to get HOT.. and stay HOT.

They are warming to 1/4 on the gauge relatively quickly.. but ..as you noticed,
Struggle to maintain HOT.

JUST leep an eye on the oil and coolant levels.. if they are holding ok.. this is probably just a 'super cooling' effect from the cold and wet climate.

Charlie

Hi,

this is probably due to the thermostat stuck partially open: the coolant keeps circulating even though the engine asks for less flow, so while you drive, the air cools down the coolant in the radiator (gauge goes down) and when you're at a stop, the coolant gets warmer (no air circulating) and your gauge goes up...
You need to have the thermostat replaced.

BRs, Bernie

If someone here helped You fix -or better, understand- your issue, hit the thanks icon @ bottom right corner, it's free and makes us feel helpy ;-)

Thanks both two very different responses though, can't really tell if this is due to the season since i purchased the car in October, only drive it on weekends and only ever really started watching the temp in about December so hard to tell what's normal and what isn't but I've noticed it does heat up a bit when doing a lot of stop and start driving.

Got it serviced a moth ago as well nothing was flagged about the coolant levels but i'll give it another check.

Previous cars with a 'stuck' thermostat

Have taken an age to get to 1/4

Currently this is fine.. just noticed that they have NOT stayed HOT.

A thermostat is relatively cheap and simple to replace.. but I am waiting to see when the air temps hit 5'c.
What happens to the rest of it.


My diesel daily has got to 1/2 pretty quickly and NEVER tailed off.. until this snowy weekend.

Petrol panda.. new stat @5 yrs ago.. seemed fine until this week.

As I said.. I will see how they are in non arctic air.

Becky, our Panda 1.2 petrol is doing exactly the same Charlie. Gets up to 1/4 quite quickly then just hangs about. Mostly Mrs Jock drives Becky but last week I had her out, just around the town. Mrs J has no idea if it's been like this for a while - I doubt if she even looks at it, ever - Probably needs a new thermostat but I'll see what happens next week when the weather warms up a wee bit.

There have been at least 2 recent panda section threads querying the same observations.

Perhaps its a polar vortex ..just under the battery tray..

What! You mean there's one under the battery tray too! They really know how to hide don't they

Wondering if it could also be the fact that the edge of the lower griile is sticking out a bit maybe blowing cold air into it? Need to take it to the dealership can't push it fully back in for the life of me

VirtuousGuy said:

Wondering if it could also be the fact that the edge of the lower griile is sticking out a bit maybe blowing cold air into it? Need to take it to the dealership can't push it fully back in for the life of me

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Unlikely to have any real effect.

Modern cars have VAST surface area for cooling.

Essentially throwing Ice over them is far more effective

Let us know next weekend if you are still experiencing such cold running.

Again tonight my mj went to 1/4.. and stayed there. 2 hour 60mph tomorrow I will see how it goes.

I had this problem on my Doblo cargo van and I put up with it for about 5 years ,kind of never got round to doing it as it looked difficult to get at,I replaced the thermostat this summer ,best thing I ever did,I no longer need to leave the van idling on the drive for 10 minutes just to defrost the windscreen in winter.when I examined the old thermostat you could still blow through when it was closed but the gap was only a couple of mm.

Well..
Raining this morning.. so probably 6'c warmer.

Gauge ALMOST up to mid point again.

Apparently air temp was -11.5 locally yesterday morning.

No wonder they have struggled..!!

Got a 2hr run later.. so am anticipating
'Normal service resumed'

Charlie

One should NOT neglect this temperature issue: the sooner the engine gets its normal working temperature, the sooner the ECU can send optimized curves to the injectors/sparks plugs with lower emissions and higher per liter mileage ...

Regards, Bernie.

Agreed.

But unlikely all 3 cars broke in a 2 week period

Hi Charlie,

they probably get the same fault already: thermostat not fully closing.
The last cold few days has just emphasized the symptom, very similar to battery failure when winter conditions come, they don't get all bad at the same time, they simply already are dying and the cold weather just separates the healthy ones from the others ...

Regards, Bernie

Bernievarian said:

Hi Charlie,

they probably get the same fault already: thermostat not fully closing.
The last cold few days has just emphasized the symptom, very similar to battery failure when winter conditions come, they don't get all bad at the same time, they simply already are dying and the cold weather just separates the healthy ones from the others ...

Regards, Bernie

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I would have to drive my twinair to get all scientific

If the stat is working properly, the temp should rise steadily to 'normal' and remain with little deviation. Colder weather just makes the rise slower.

I shall jinx it now, but the Panda is still doing as it should, with its original 2006 stat.

Open the bonnet and locate the stat and the top hose from it.
Start the engine.
Top hose should stay cold for some time, then suddenly get hot. That's when the stat opens for the first time.
If it warms gently, the stat is stuck open.
Don't burn your hands.
Feel the temp a little way away from the engine, as there will be some conduction of heat.

So out of curiosity how long should it be taking for the engine to reach operating temperature?

I put a new thermostat in my 53 reg Panda 1.2 last year. It gets up to temp (half way) in less than 1 mile. Once up to temp the needle never moves one bit.

GeorgeDamper said:

I put a new thermostat in my 53 reg Panda 1.2 last year. It gets up to temp (half way) in less than 1 mile. Once up to temp the needle never moves one bit.

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Yep, about a mile, only a little longer in the coldest days.