Thread: Heating issues- continuation of "temp gauge question

Hey guys, I previously had a post asking about a possible issue with the temp gauge & have another question that goes off the same issue. First off the car is a 2008 Grand Prix with 34000 miles on the clock & automatic temperature control. Now for the issue.

I noticed two things. 1: when I drive down the road the needle is between the 1/4 & 1/2 mark. It moves to the 1/2 mark when I sit at idle for an extended period of time. The car also seems to take longer to warm up than it should. 2: The heat doesn't seem to be putting out. When I have the temp set at about 80 degrees the air doesn't seem to be too hot out of the vent. The lower the temp the cooler it feels. 72 degrees feels cool to the touch. It feels the same from the passenger side when it is set at the same temp as the driver side.

The coolant overflow bottle was a little low so I topped it off with fresh 50/50 dexcool. The coolant that is in the car looks fresh. No scum floating around or anything. I'm thinking along the line of a thermostat but not certain.

Any help is greatly appreciated so I don't have to drive cold.

Since it isn't too hard to get to I'm gonna go ahead & throw a thermostat at the car & see what happens.

Anything else it might be?

I changed the t-stat & bled the cooling system but still no difference. I guess nobody else has any ideas either.

Originally Posted by Fivefingerdeathpunch

maybe flush the heater core out?

Called up NTB & am taking the car over the get the cooling system flushed. Only 34k on the clock & already crap on the underside of it. I HATE DEXCOOL!!!

Just got the car back from the shop. Had them do a cooling system flush on it & apparently a lot of crap came out of the system. It seems to be hotter now, since there isn't the crap in there anymore.

Thanks for the heads up. It sounds like they didn't put dexcool back in, which is more than fine with me. I'm just glad to be able to have heat.