My 99 Acura Integra engine takes a long time to get warm so I can defrost the front window. Any problem that would cause this? I had a similar problem with a 99 Civic. My 08 Accord engine heated up much faster.
Has the thermostat ever been changed?
What **GreasyJack **said.
The thermostat sits between the engine block and the radiator. When the car is cold, it’s closed so no water can get out to the radiator. As a result, the water in the water jacket around the block stays close to the engine and gets hot faster.
As that water gets hot, a thermocouple (in older thermostats, not sure what they use now) forces the valve in the thermostat to open letting water move between the water jacket and radiator.
Since your defroster runs off of the radiator, if the thermostat is always open, the engine will have to heat ALL of the water in the cooling system before your defroster will work properly. But aside from this, it will also probably impact your gas mileage and possibly cause carbon build up in the engine and other issues so it’s potentially more than just an inconvenience.
Not sure if the thermostat was replaced, I bought the car used last year at 100k miles.
Is that pretty easy for me to replace on this car?
Probably not too bad. On most vehicles it’s pretty easy, but some have clearance issues. The hardest part is draining and refilling the coolant, but on a vehicle of this age of unknown previous maintenance, it would probably be an excellent idea to just change the coolant while you’re at it.
(On my own personal DIY vs. “take it in” scale, coolant changes are firmly in the “take it in” category simply because of the hassle of dealing with used antifreeze.)
****I’m not a mechanic so I’ll let **GreaseJack **take that one, but since it has to be at the junction somewhere between the radiator and the block, my guess is that unless things are very tight under the hood, it should be doable if you know your way around a wrench.
The main things will be a) getting a quality part you know will be reliable; b) installing it correctly; and c) this is one that people tend to screw up, making sure that you install the gasket correctly and torque down the housing properly.
edit: btw, we still don’t for sure this is the problem.
The thermostat is likely your cheapest/easiest fix, so I’d start here. Most thermostats are “fail safe” so rather the sticking shut when they fail, they’ll stick open. Which, as stated by deltasigma, will allow the coolant to flow through the radiator at all times. If this is the case, then it’ll take even longer to warm up while driving because air will be passing through the radiator, cooling the already cold coolant. Also, if you change it yourself, make sure you properly install the gasket or you’ll allow the coolent to bypass the thermostat resulting in the same problem.
While it’s likely to be the thermostat…I would check one thing first. Have you ever put coolant/antifreeze into it? Have you checked the level recently?
I know, almost too obvious to mention. But…uh…let’s just say I’ve learned to name the obvious after having a completely car clueless (ex)husband. And two busted head gaskets :rolleyes:
Just to play devil’s advocate, it might be possible that the problem is some obstruction in the loop feeding your defroster/heater. If the flow there is obstructed but not completely blocked, my guess is that you could have similar symptoms with the difference being that the amount of heat you finally get would be less that what is “normal.”
I put normal in quotes because it’s possible that the issue predates when you purchased the car. In that case you might not be aware of what ‘normal’ should be and that somehow the obstruction has just gotten progressively worse.
I know I’m probably reaching but I just wanted to throw out another possibility. I’ve actually seen this sort of thing in cases where I’ve added stuff to the radiator to help fix leaks in a head gasket. Btw, never, ever do that. The only problem with that scenario is that the problem with the heater/defroster didn’t get progressively worse. It just plugged everything up so that there was very little flow and it more or less stayed that way.
I’ve had both problems - defective thermostats, and crud plugging the heater core of my old Honda Civic. The latter required them to unhook the hoses and blow it out forcefully. A friend also had an air bubble in his heater core (really old AMC car) so the heater stopped blowing any warm air completely.
Thermostat (on Civic) was easy - the hose from the top of the radiator into the block, unscrewed the two bolts that held the end onto the block. The thermostat is a thing with a spring-like thick wire connected to the top plate. As the spiral wire heats up, it expands enough to open the plate on top.
I bet if you google your car make and replace thermostat, like this, http://www.justanswer.com/acura/6nvsy-acura-tl-replace-1999-acura-3-2-tl-thermostat.html you’ll find instructions.
In most cases I’ve experienced, thermostats are absurdly simple to replace. And cheap (IANAMechanic). I’ve replaced thermostats with brandy-new ones for about $20 (they’re a little more expensive now, but still…).
It also sounds like a plausible cause that will cost a small amount of money and a few small dollars (and you’ll have to wash your hands before dinner).
If it’s just frost, you can use your window washer to clean the frost off. Just make sure it’s the sub-zero antifreeze variety. No, it will not crack your windshield, as the fluid and the glass will be at the same temperature after sitting all night.
If you decide to change the thermostat yourself, just a reminder. Antifreeze tastes like candy to pets and it is very poisonous.
So if you don’t want fluffy or spot to die an agonizing death, don’t spill any antifreeze.
Dispose of any antifreeze you drain in an environmentally safe manner.