I'm pretty sure that the thermostat is working correctly, but I haven't actually taken it out and tested it. It's been this way since we bought it (new in 2006).
I guess I'll try some cardboard in the front of the radiator. Mark On Tue, Feb 3, 2009 at 2:29 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > This does not sound right to me. I'm wondering if the thermostat is bad. It > should come up to temp almost as quickly as a gas powered car, me thinks. > The stat may simply not be closing all the way. > > I presume you already have the heater on recirculate, not on outside air? > > Is there room to slip a piece of peg board in front of the radiator? I had a > pickup years ago that always ran > cool in the Ohio winters, so I cut a piece of peg board to slip in front of > the rad., worked perfectly. > > Jim in Tucson > > > In a message dated 2/3/2009 1:21:29 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time, > [email protected] writes: > > So, while this seems like something that I should be able to figure > out myself, I thought I would ask you guys too... > > I'm living in Minnesota (near Saint Paul). My wife and I carpool and > we take her car (she can't drive stick and usually needs the car for > the day), which is a Jetta TDI. > > The problem is that when it's cold, like -20F (-29C), or even 0F > (-18C), it's really cold in the car, and the car doesn't warm up > easily. If you stop at a stop light, you lose a tick or two on the > temp gauge, especially if you have the heater fan on more than the > minimal setting. I can easily drive the 20 miles from home to work > without ever hitting the "normal" 190F operating temp. > > The question is, what's the best way to warm a diesel? Obviously > idling doesn't do it. It's got a "manu-mattic" transmission, so I > have been manually shifting and revving to about 3k before I shift > (redline is 4500) and keeping it out of 6th gear. Today I was > wondering if that was the best way to do it. > > Would putting it in the highest gear as soon as possible and using > large throttle openings get the car to warm up faster? Since it's > still an automatic, I can't shift much earlier than normal "D" > driving, but I can do it a little earlier. > > I've found that I get it warmer faster than just driving in "D" with > the 3k shifting, but that's not good enough. :-) If anyone else knows > the answer, that doesn't involve blocking the radiator, please let me > know. > > Thanks! > > Mark > _______________________________________________ > Miatapower mailing list > [email protected] > http://list.miatapower.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/miatapower > > ________________________________ > Great Deals on Dell Laptops. Starting at $499. _______________________________________________ Miatapower mailing list [email protected] http://list.miatapower.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/miatapower
