let it run a little longer and try again.

 

What about after a 15 minute drive to school tomorrow?

 

After about a 15 minute drive, mostly highway, the lower radiator hose connecting to the thermostat was still cool.

 

deff check your thermostat next.

Or better yet just change it. They are not that expensive and do need to be changed out after a while.

To check it put it in a pot with water and start heating the pot up. Put a probe in the water so you will see at what temp your thermostat will open.

 

If your thermostat is not opening your car will overheat. The above recommendation about putting it in a pot works very well. Do your cooling fans kick on at all? I would let the car idle for 10-15 min at 1500 RPM. In my car it takes sometimes 15 or more minutes to get the thermostat to open up.

 

^it will overheat only if you driving in hot conditions or idle for a long long long long time.

 

Incorrect.... if your thermostat is not opening your car will overheat because the hot coolant has no way to circulate and cool. It may take a few more minutes or a few less when the ambient temperature is hot or cold but it will overheat.

 

^ what he said. fwiw, changing out the tstat isn't hard, but it can be an annoyance. drive your car normally for 30 mins or more then check the hose again. i'd hate for you to change your tstat only to find out that wasn't the issue (plus you could make the problem worse by getting air in the system).

 

The fans turn on. My radiator is fairly new. The coolant gets hot quickly; I can tell when it comes out of the bleeder screw. My temperature gauge is like one line under the middle once the car is warm.

The thermostat doesn't seem too difficult to install.

 

if you are driving it will naturally cool off by air that is forced through your radiator.
On top of that he always had his heater on when driving..........that also cools down the coolant.

So if you are driving with a none working thermostat car WILL NOT overheat unless you stop and leave it to idle for an hour.

 

I bought a new thermostat an hour ago and will try to put it in soon. Thanks for the help guys, I will keep you updated.

It was a 45 minute round trip (with stop and go traffic) to get the thermostat at the dealer. The lower hose was cool and I could pretty much squeeze it with my hand like there was no pressure in it (unlike the upper hose).

 

45 minutes and still cool...definitely a problem

 

The new thermostat didn't do anything. My dad said something about a heat core, so I will look into that.

 

Damn


You'll end up taking the entire car apart.


Good luck.

 

Yea, I know, I looked at the directions in the FSM and it's not something I would like to do.

I hit a deer about 3 months ago; a new radiator and passenger air bag was put in. I'm not sure if this problem is because of hitting the dear. About a couple weeks ago I noticed my heat was cold. I don't understand why this just started happening?

I would think the shop flushed my heater core, but maybe not? I've read online a heater core flush might help.