when your thermostat goes out, you will now it, if they are made good, they will last the whole life of your car, my honda has 207,000 miles, and it has never been changed. if it goes out, or gets stuck it will most likely overheat, causing numerous problems, but i don't think there is any reason to change it if you don't have to, one, there are sometimes hard to get to it the first place, and why risk the chance of you getting a bad one, and then putting it in, and it get stuck, its happened to me more than once. Most of the time, if you car overheats, if you catch it in time, it won't hurt anything. If it hits 260 or higher, your head, gasket, and maybe rings, are all done. a typical honda should run between 195 and 215 or so, if it got any higher than that on a hot day, i would worry. and if you want to be safe if you decide to put a new one in, get one with a lower temp rate, that way you won't have to worry about anything overheating.
How do u know when the thermostat in your car is bad or time to change it?
When your thermostat gauge don't move............. or your heater core needs flushed out............ which is probably the problem...............
How do u know when the thermostat in your car is bad or time to change it?
Your car's heat gauge should stay right around the middle of the scale. If it never really heats up, or overheats and never cools off, the stat is stuck.
If in doubt, go ahead and change it anyway. They're cheap and it's easy to do. If that doesn't fix whatever you think is wrong, then at least you know the stat isn't the problem.
if you are not getting any heat or very minimal heat, first check and make sure your radiator is full to the top if it is then either your thermostat is bad or your radiator itself is bad, and be very careful not to drive very far with the gauge reading hot or you will run into more costly problems like your head gaskets and boy those can run anywhere from 800 -1000 dollars a pop.
when a thermostat is stuck open
it doesnt allow the engine to heat up to normal opearting temperature, if it does it takes a while, but more than likely it wont, and your temp needle will stay at cold, and you will get no heat
when a thermostat is stock closed
it doesnt allow the coolant to flow,so your engine overheats, and it traps all the heat, so you also dont get any warm air coming out of your vents,
Once the thermostat has failed it will no longer hold the coolant at a constant temperature.
Age of coolant, age of vehicle and the age of the part play a role.
My 96 Civic had the original thermostat changed at 220000kms. It had not failed..yet.
Coolant should be changed in Hondas once every three years.
