slow to warm up/ operating temperature?
 

I have an 88 turbo with a remanufactured engine. I am starting to wonder if I may not have a thermostat in it after the swap. It is extremely slow to warm up, and even after running at lenght, it at most only gets about 20% up on the temperature gauge. What is the normal range I should expect on the temperature gauge? If I need to replace the thermostat, is it an easy fix?

25% or so is normal for an S4. It should take about 5 minute of normal driving to reach that point. If it takes quite a bit longer, just check to make sure there is a thermostat. Hack job mechanics will remove them for some odd reason.

10-4. I will check it to see if there is one in place. It sounds like they must run fairly cool anyway if 25% is normal. Thanks for answering all my questions. There isn't really anyone around here who knows much about rotary engines and rx7 problems. It's too bad because they are really great cars.

seems kind of cold
 

I went out and started the car after checking the fuel sock and let it idle for 10 minutes to warm up a bit. After 10 minutes I looked at the temp gauge and the needle had just crept to the bottom mark on the area that shows the normal operating temperature. I'm sure if I was actually driving it it would come up more to the 20% or so area. It got dark before I had a chance to take the thermostat housing apart, but does this sound like a missing or defective thermostat to you? I read in the manual that if the thermostat is stuck open sometimes your fuel economy will suffer because the engine is cold or the computer is managing the fuel for a cold engine. Is this true? Thanks

Burrrrrrrrr!
 

I'm was experiencing the same issue. First thing I did was replace the belts. The belt that ran the waterpump and alternator was cracked and was in really bad shape. I made sure that it was properly tensioned – then also replaced the Thermostat. During that process one of the two bolts to remove the housing, broke off . I had to take a drill to it and replace it with a bolt/nut combo, but so far, and so long as I let it warm up for 10-15 minutes, then I have heat on my hour long “Cold Colorado Commute”. Oh, and I bleed the air out of the cooling system, by leaving the top cap (near the thermostat) off and squeezed the upper and lower hose while the engine was warming up (repeated this several times after drives)… Seemed to work for my 88! Keep us up to date! And good luck.

Gupweed