My 06 heater has had trouble heating up. I changed the thermostat then test drove it and it seemed as though the temp. reading on my edge system gauge was higher than maybe it should be. Anyone know what operating temp. i should be at not pulling anything. Thanks

 

Mines always seems to be right at 200* - My heater worked good in teens, but thankfully I don't know about lower temps than that.

 

In the winter time i have to drive on the highway to get it up to 200. If i drive around town for any amount of time my truck will never get up to temp unloaded. I think the t stat is a 195 stock

 

The OE thermostat is 190*. Mine runs from 188-193* on the fwy in winter, and up to 195-200 in the summer (non-towing).

These motors are VERY cold blooded. Unless your morning routine involves stop and go it can take miles for the thermostat to open. Even where I am in AZ right now at 60-70* it takes 3-4 miles for the thermostat to open.

 

plug it in in the morning and it will get hotter quicker! but about 195 on the gauge when warm

 

Getting the temp up in the morning is tough. Last winter I tried an experiment.

The temps were pretty cold for this area, pretty close to 0*. On the first day, I did not plug it in. The second day I plugged it in for 4 hours (timer switch). And on the third day I plugged it in all night. I used a remote starter every morning, and let it idle for 10 minutes.

On all three days, I had to scrape the windshield. But it was easier on days 2 and 3.

On day 1, it didn't want to start. It did, but was sluggish and took 2-3 tries before catching. On days 2 and 3 it started right up on the first crank. (again, using the remote starter).

On all three days, the temp had hit about 100-110 in the first mile. Then it would gradually warm up, until the the heater was working good at about the 5 mile mark. I live 6.5 miles from work.

Once I installed the winter cover, it reached full operating temp in about 3 miles. But the initial warm up didn't seem to change much.

So, what did I learn?
- Plugging in for 4 hours vs 8-10 hours didn't matter. Since then, I'v decreased it to 3 hours, and it starts a little sluggishly (when it's down around 0*).
- Plugged in or not, it reached full temp at about the same rate.
- The block heater allows it to start easy, which is valuable. But doesn't warm it up much beyond that.
- The front winter cover is worth the money.

 

I have found that 90 minutes of operation makes about the same difference on warm-up as plugged in all night, and makes a huge difference in starting (even at -8*f)