Car trouble.

King Riptor

So basically my I think my Thermostat is broken. The gauge is not moving at all and my car is loud as hell when I idle.

My air conditioner went too but I'm assuming that's unrelated.

What I need to know is how long could I safely drive with this issue. I can't fix it until Thursday at the earliest but I have a long drive ahead of me Wednesday and I cannot put it off. It's about 10 hours drive time total ( 4 there 4 back and some minor stuff while I'm there).

MushroomStick

On most cars, a thermostat is a really cheap and easy to swap out. If your thermostat is really stuck, you absolutely do not want to be making any long drives.

wmelon

I would rent a car on wednesday. Thermostats tend to only break in 2 ways, stuck open or stuck closed. Stuck open, the engine will take a very very long time to warm up and fuel economy will go down. Stuck closed and the engine will over heat because the coolant isn't being circulated to the radiator.

Either way a rental car is definitely cheaper than an overheated engine, since you don't actually know which way it's broken or even if it is.

MushroomStick

What kind of car is it? When I had my Neon, a new thermostat was $7 and less than 5 minutes of my time to change out.

King Riptor

It's a Saturn Aura so basically a Chevy Malibu. Pep boys will apparently check the engine for free since I got one of their little value card things so if the part is really that cheap I may be fine.

Dragosai

One thing I would advise is to go with a manufacturers replacement part, not an aftermarket third party part. The manufacturers part will more likely be a little bit more $, but they are worth it. I went with the cheaper aftermarket thermostat in one of my old cars and my heat during the winter never worked correctly, spent the winter driving months freezing my ass off.

King Riptor

So got it checked. turns out I can replace the problem parts for about 50 bucks. Not entirely happy I can't you know eat tomorrow but at least I'll get there.

wmelon

What was causing the problem? Was it the thermostat like you suspected?

King Riptor

wmelon wrote: »

What was causing the problem? Was it the thermostat like you suspected?

It is.
Unfortunately I listened to my dad and got the coolant gauge instead because he was convinced it was the problem( the read out said it was either or) so I had to buy both.