ok so here is the story. i have an 1988 convertible and i live in Florida ( really hot here) my cars temperature stock temperature use to read half way and go up to 3/4th when i drove it hard. peak 50/50 antifreeze/coolant and 1qt of water wetter and i dint see much of a difference. turns out my cheap e fan sucked so i went to the stock fan clutch system with fan shroud and double pulley alternator. but ever since i changed the system my cars temp gauge is barely above the cold line even when i drove it really hard. i have an autozone thermostat at the moment( will be getting oem thermostat this week) now that you have heard the story on to the point. is this a bad thing? could this cause damage to my engine? and if it can how serious and how fast? any info would be useful. thanks in advance guys.

 

That's normal.


-Ted

 

thanks ted =)

how long should i give the engine to warm up on a cold start?

 

Just let the engine idle for half a minute or so, then drive it. However, keep the revs low until the temp gauge is up to about 1/3 (normal). Letting it sit there and idle just wastes gas.

 

mines runs around 190-200|F and i leave in florida. think thats too hot?

 

Your thermostat doesn't open till @185°, so 5-15° above that is pretty efficient.

 

so should so if i have been driving the car for 15 minutes and its still cold. should i wait longer or would it be ok to drive it hard after that

 

Wait a sec... after 15 minutes, your needle still isn't up to 1/3 - 1/2? Your t'stat could be stuck. The consensus seems to be use ONLY a mazda oem t'stat.

 

like i said on my main post my needle is slightly above cold all the time no matter how hard i drive it. im getting an oem thermosat this week.

 

Mine runs about 190 in the dead of summer. Vert in FL as well. With the a/c on.

That is normal.

 

A bad thermostat would most likely make the car run too hot, not too cold.
I'd suspect the water temp sending unit or the gauge itself.

 

I had a stuck t'stat in my car and the symptoms would be that it would take 20 minutes for the temp gauge to climb to 1/3. It also ran hot on the highway, but cool around town.

 

Normal temp on the gauge for S4 is about 1/4 or so. Normal temp is about 1/2 on S5. Everything here sounds normal.

 

alright thanks guys