My dear Micramen friends,
Now that I'm gonna spend the winter North of the 50th parallel with my Micra (Sept-Îles), heater performance is quite a concern
I have an OBD II reader plugged in, so I can have real time engine temperature readings. I always use my block heater two hours before starting. When the temperature outside is around -10o C, the engine temperature warmed up with the block heater reads around 20o C at cold start. I drive for a distance of about 10 km, half of it at 80 km/h and the other half city driving.
Engine temperature rises to about 68-70o C, and when I stop at red lights, on idle, engine temperature drops down to 61, 62oC. Engine temperature never reaches normal operating range (82-86o C) during that journey, even if I let the engine warm up for a couple of minutes before leaving.
What do you think about it? Should I put, a piece of cardboard in front of the radiator? Should I change the thermostat? Thanks a million!