when should the heat kick in? (idle, fuel, engine, highway)

[rlrl]

how long should it take to feel the heat come on in a 1992 Toyota tercel?

I go about 2 miles in city traffic(no more than 10 mins) , park, go to Starbucks for 30 mins then come back, combo highway/streets for 2-3 more miles(no more than 15 mins) to the office

by the time i get to the office i start feeling some heat tho not that hot but in time it will be

last year i thought there was a problem but then i didn't think there was.

this year same thing.

[M3 Mitch]

You are not going far enough to fully heat the car up. You should have some heat after about the first mile though.

Does your car have a temp gauge or idiot light?

You have a very hostile driving environment, the short urban trips tend to build up sludge as the oil does not get hot enough to drive out water developed by combustion.

[rlrl]

gauge seems to stay on the cold end tho if the weather is warmer and i am in a lot of stop & go or traffic the gauge will rise in between c and hot but will go down after moving again

[rlrl]

after a mile tho i can tell you if i got on the highway and drove consistently on it i would get heat. just seems lately it takes longer

[M3 Mitch]

If your thermostat were working right, it would basically come up to normal and stay there. I think you *probably* have a thermostat that's opening prematurely or not closing fully.

My Camry comes up to nearly vertical (no numbers or markings between the C and H, just blank gauge face) within about 2 miles of leaving home, of course I am driving 40 or so on a highway, but once it comes up it stays up.

Check with Joe Torre, he can tell you if you need a t-stat.

[nei]

Once the car's temperature gauge shows the engine has warmed up (a little less than half way between Cold and Hot) you should be getting heat out of your car. You should leave the heat off until the engine warm up, otherwise it will take longer for the to warm.

In any case, if it takes forever to warm up. It could be you need a new thermostat. That happened to my car.

[ESFP]

I'd check the thermostat, too. But, take it to any mechanic or Jiffy Lube type service and have them check your radiator fluid. Different mixtures of anti-freeze will change the way the heater works. It should be 50/50, I think. If it hasn't been changed in awhile, the radiator probably needs flushed and new fluid put in. Old fluid turns to acid and will eat the impellers off of your water pump and cause all kinds of problems where the water goes. It takes a minute for them to check this commonly overlooked problem. Good luck!

[trlhiker]

How cold is it outside? 2 miles in city traffic is usually not enough to warm the car up especially an older one. Do you let the car warm up before you drive or do you go as soon as it starts?

[rlrl]

this August

I never warm up the car. I'm a very irritable impatient type and have difficulty waiting(mp3 mitch see what NY has done to me). actually the fuel injection and the fact that the car has never ONCE stalled in all it's 18.5 years has spoiled me. there is a slight hesitation when it fires up in cold weather or when sitting for a few days but once it gets going i'm off and running for my morning caffeine fix. worst is when the windows are frosted up i use that heating spray to quickly defrost the windows. sometimes that doesn't totally work and i end up not being able to see the road so i pull off on to the side and finish what i should have done 3 minutes before. then i stomp my foot and utter a few expletives before going on to Starbucks

this is the north bronx mind you where it's relatively quiet. imagine what i would be like in midtown Manhattan

i have tried driving with the heater off. pretty much no difference. i start feeling heat once i have gone about 4 miles. that's pretty much the distance from home to office

[M3 Mitch]

There is nothing wrong with driving off without letting the car sit and idle (well I like to let them idle like 30 seconds but that's it) but drive with a light foot while the engine is cold.

The problem, if there is one, is that you are just not going far enough or fast enough to warm the car up fully.

If your temp. gauge goes up when you are not moving but goes back down when you start moving, 99% says your thermostat is not working 100%.

I doubt that chain garage used genuine Toyota (red) antifreeze or mixed it with distilled or otherwise purified water. Working in the nuclear industry, I am here to tell you that water purity is a big deal in minimizing corrosion.