Sounds like your thermostat is bad. The needle should be right about
the middle. Not getting out of the white line/warmup zone is hurting
your engine.

Jim

On Nov 27, 2006, at 7:44 PM, Geza Polony wrote:

> Hello all,
>
> Trying to diagnose a closed-loop erratic idle, I measured the
> coolant temp
> in the expansion (not overflow) container, and found it to be on
> low side:
> 120 to 130 degrees F. at ordinary, around town, temperatures. At
> this temp
> the gauge rests near the bottom, on the white mark. That's how it
> almost
> always is when driving around town. Isn't that low?
>
> I know that "real" coolant temps should be measured at the water
> pump. But
> given a 20 degree difference between the container and the pump(I'm
> guessing) isn't that still on the low side?
>
> Driving home from T-Day dinner, about 50 miles on freeway, the
> temperature
> never got up to the white mark on the gauge, and the engine stayed
> in open
> loop all the way! I know that the Temp 2 sensor is good because I've
> replaced it twice in the last six months and the two I took out
> test good as
> well.
>
> 1984 1.9.
>
> How hot should they run?
> Would cool running affect idle?
> Anybody run the thermostats that open at higher temperatures?
> How much of a PITA to install?
>
> Thanks!
>

Jim Felder
felder@knology.net

  "I long ago lost a hound, a bay horse, and a turtle dove, and am
still on their trail. Many are the travelers I have spoken to
concerning them, describing their tracks and what calls they answered
to. I have met one or two who had heard the hound, and the tramp of
the horse, and even seen the dove disappear behind a cloud, and they
seemed as anxious to recover them as if they had lost them
themselves." - henry thoreau