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  #1  
Old 11-29-2010, 06:39 AM
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Temperature gauge consistently below normal

I let my car warm up every morning for ten to fifteen minutes prior to leaving for work and the temperature gauge always reaches normal temp (in the middle of the gauge) but once I begin driving the temperature drops towards the bottom showing that the car is running cold. I am not sure why the engine is doing this. It will continue to run below normal as long as I am moving.

The other problem is the heat is intermittent. It decides to consistently blow out cold air when turned on if the temperature outside is below 50 degrees, if it's warmer than 50 then it will blow out warm air. Not sure if the problems are linked but I have replaced the thermostat already but maybe I got a bad thermostat?? I also have checked the lines going into and out of the heater core and the passenger side one is warm but not hot and the drivers side one is cold so I am assuming I have a clogged heater core (unfortunately) but I have flushed it various times and water comes out just fine so I am thoroughly confused as to what is going on with the temperature gauge and the lack of heat. Any ideas are appreciated. Thanks.
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  #2  
Old 11-29-2010, 06:54 AM
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Re: Temperature gauge consistently below normal

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Originally Posted by 95greensvx View Post
I let my car warm up every morning for ten to fifteen minutes prior to leaving for work and the temperature gauge always reaches normal temp (in the middle of the gauge) but once I begin driving the temperature drops towards the bottom showing that the car is running cold. I am not sure why the engine is doing this. It will continue to run below normal as long as I am moving.

The other problem is the heat is intermittent. It decides to consistently blow out cold air when turned on if the temperature outside is below 50 degrees, if it's warmer than 50 then it will blow out warm air. Not sure if the problems are linked but I have replaced the thermostat already but maybe I got a bad thermostat?? I also have checked the lines going into and out of the heater core and the passenger side one is warm but not hot and the drivers side one is cold so I am assuming I have a clogged heater core (unfortunately) but I have flushed it various times and water comes out just fine so I am thoroughly confused as to what is going on with the temperature gauge and the lack of heat. Any ideas are appreciated. Thanks.
I would guess a stuck open thermostat. Did you replace with a Subaru one? If the tstat is ok then you might have a clogged heater core but that shouldn't cause the temperature to run cold. You would need to have a clogged heater core and a bad temp sender.
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Old 11-29-2010, 07:00 AM
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Re: Temperature gauge consistently below normal

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Originally Posted by Huskymaniac View Post
I would guess a stuck open thermostat. Did you replace with a Subaru one? If the tstat is ok then you might have a clogged heater core but that shouldn't cause the temperature to run cold. You would need to have a clogged heater core and a bad temp sender.
Well the heat has been intermittent in my car prior to replacing the engine with one from another SVX. One day it just decided to stop giving me heat and started to become intermittent. The original engine was failing due to a bad head gasket so I am wondering if something got stuck in the heater core because of that but I flushed out the heater core various times and it seemed to flow through fine. The strange thing is that the engine that I put into my car ran cold in the other car I removed it from so I'm not sure what's going on. I replaced the temperature sensor to see if that was the problem but it still runs cold. I replaced the thermostat with an AutoZone one so maybe I need to get a genuine Subaru one.
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Old 11-29-2010, 07:11 AM
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Re: Temperature gauge consistently below normal

Yeah the only reason for an engine to run cold like that is too much coolant circulation thru the engine and radiator, caused by a stuck or crappy thermostat. It should also take care of your heater problem, unless theres some other issue inside the HVAC door system.
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Old 11-29-2010, 07:21 AM
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Re: Temperature gauge consistently below normal

Does anyone have the part number for a Subaru thermostat?
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Old 12-02-2010, 08:21 AM
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Re: Temperature gauge consistently below normal

When I let the car warm up in the morning for ten minutes then it is sitting at normal operating temperature but when I start to drive the guage drops a little but when I put on the heater such as defrost, the guage drops significantly. I will try a new OEM subaru thermostat. Hopefully that corrects the issue.
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