Alright, I may be worried about nothing, but I want some opinions...My car has ALWAYS stayed pinned right in the center of the temp gauge no matter how I am driving, or where I am driving....I could climb to 5,000 feet with it being 118 degrees outside, and the A/C blasting, and the temp never budged. Recently, I noticed that if I floored it for a pass, and get it to above 4,000 RPM, and its 90ish or hotter outside, the temp will move up one little line on the gauge (not much) then when I calm down, and go back to cruising, the temp goes back to the middle. Or when I am climbing any mountain pass, the temp comes up a bit, then comes right back down when I am not into the gas. My Cavalier used to do this all the time, even when just sitting in traffic, and it was normal for that car. The only reason i'm wondering what it going on is that my Monte NEVER did this before. I don't know what the relation is, but it started right after I put the CAI on the car...is there a connection? I changed the thermostat and coolant, and nothing changed, its still doing the occasional raise in temp....Please let me know if this is normal with a CAI, or if something could possibly be wrong (intake or head gasket etc...) My coolant level is staying the same though, no leaks that are measurable, and oil is fine...Car runs AWESOME...just this weird temp fluctuation has started since the CAI installation. Answers??? Thanks for your thoughts/ answers...

 

Dont know it its related to the CAI, but i know my car does the same thing under acceleration.

 

my '98 with a 3.8 stays at 1/4 of the way up the gauge no matter how I'm driving. it only hits the halfway mark while sitting in traffic. you could always put in a cooler thermostat?

 

Don't worry about it until it starts to hit 212° or more.

And if you really are worried, just slap in a nice 180° thermostat (you could go drilled thermostat since you live in california and it will help with stand-still traffic too)

 

Alright, thats what I was thinking, I did not think it was a big deal, but just wanted other opinions, since it just started doing it....

Thanks guys!

 

Sounds normal to me. If I remember correctly the cooling fans don't kick on till roughly 220 degrees.

 

if a person was to put the 180 stat in, would it still work ok if even if you couldn't adjust the "fan on" temp to work with the cooler stat?

 

I'm not really sure a 180 t-stat would do all that much for our Monte's Drew....I did not realize this until I replaced my thermostat, but our stock t-stat is already a 185...I know the Bonneville's is a 195..(and that has the 3800 series II V6).

From what everyone has said, and my own judgement, I am not going to worry about it...It has not budged in a few days now (since the outside temp in only in upper 70's low 80's)...And when it does get really hot and I have a big load on the engine, it does not raise the temp much (hard to say because the gauge has no numbers) but maybe 10 degrees!!??? So I think at most my car might be getting to 195-200 when the temp inches up slightly. So like I said, everyone has confermed my initial thoughts that I guess its just nothing to worry about, so i'm not going to worry about it.

 

hey good to know michael. i guess i was always told most if not all gm tstats are 195. when you replaced your tstat, did it say 185 on it or how did you know it was a 185? if that is the case, then i will not worry about swapping it out. i don't want to go lower than 180 anyways because of our chilly MN winters. thanks again.

 

Sounds pretty normal to me, wouldn't worry about it. My LS normally runs a tick below halfway to the red zone, but when I pull up to a red light, it nudges the halfway point. As soon as I get moving again, it goes back down to the first notch below halfway.