Just got a Protege from my bro-inlaw with a whooping 224k miles on it, its still chuggin though. Only major problem right now is that the heat is a cool-warm for the first 50mins of driving. after that its nice and toasty. However I live in MN and my drive to work is 30mins meaning i never get to feel this heat unless i'm stuck in traffic.

The fluid levels are all good, does anyone have any ideas what i can check? location of thermostat?

 

Hi there.

My 03 Protege had the same problem. It did turn out to be the thermostat being stuck open and not letting the engine build up enough heat.
If you have the 1.8l SOHC engine, then the themostat housing is located on the drivers side of the engine below the distributor cap. The housing will have a electrical sensor connection on the top.

Hope this is some help!
Cheers.

 

Hi, me again.
My Protege is a 93 not a 03! Oops.

 

Thanks for that helpful tip. It was right where you said it was I switched out my thermostat but the weather has warmed up to mid 30s, go figure. Will have to wait for colder temps before I can tell if it was fixed. Thanks again

 

Its sad to say that thermostat was not the fix. I'm still driving 30mins in with 'cool warm' temperature. Its strange, the upper hose from the radiator has good pressure and is pretty warm. Anyone have any recommendations?

 

drain the coolant and disconnect the lines from the heater core and blow some air through the heater core. it may be clogged up. if so, run a coolant flush chemical through the system with the heater running. if that doesn't help, you will have to replace the heater core.

 

thanks. I'm probably going to end up taking this to the shop. Boy i wish i had a heated garage :\ Thanks again.

 

Hi all just wanted to update. Car is in the shop getting a back flush of heater core. They told me the engine temperature is lower than the norm (not by much) but that I might need a new thermostat. Just a quick refresher though. I replaced my thermostat 2 weeks ago. Any ideas what the lower engine temp could be caused by? the heat rating on the thermostat was 180degrees.

Thanks.