mike123

Just new as a Mazda owner. So far I'm quite impressed by my new Mazda 3. It is mostly living up to all the hype.

One issue I have noticed. Anyone else notice this. The engine (2.0) comes with a 165F thermostat. I have read the values off the PCM (not sure what Mazda calls it yet). The thermostat does work correctly, and exactly as designed, but what I find is that for Ontario, with the cold weather now - it takes forever to heat up the car having the engine/coolant operate at 165.
Certainly my north American cars using a 190F or so thermostat take the chill out of a minus 15 car interior with in a few minutes. The Mazda is barely getting the chill out after 10-15 minutes.

Does anyone know if it is really necessary for this engine to run so cold?

Mike

vancer

I bought my Mazda 3 last April so this is my first winter with it. Although i have the 2.3 engine i notice that it takes a bit more time and running to get good heat also. Pennsylvania winter cold this year.

Roddimus Prime

the t-stat can be changed rather easily. Here in alabama I run a standard 192* fail safe during the winter and drop down to a 160-180* during the hot summers. T-stats are designed to be relaced often and easily for this reason.

I'll be flushing my MS6 out next month or so and running a mix of pure distilled water and Royal Purple "Purple Ice".

mike123

I am a mechanic - but not for cars, and have no Mazda experience yet - as my Mazda is only a few months old. My cars rarely if ever see a garage for repairs. I just wanted to make sure that there was no physical reason, that running the engine at 190 was not going to overheat anything. Especially in regards to the warranty.

Roddimus Prime

engines run best in the 180-195* range....anything over 200* and I'd get worried (on a mazda..some GM's are designed to run upwards of 225*).

mike123

Sounds good. I was just wondering if there was some design reason this engine was set by the factory to run so cold. And that turning up the heat would not harm anything, void any warrenty, nor cause my emissions to go out of wack - as in my area it will eventually need to pass an emsission re-cert check.

If as we agree, engines run better in the 190 region, why would they put in a 165 at the factory?