Very Possible.

I'm thinking my situation though is an isolated incident. And the reason I say that is because at one point my car was ranging in temps between 190-201 (normal'ish).

But NOW...its ranging between 174-181.

Both range spectrums utilizing the same, new ac delco tstat.

Idk, maybe my cars just acting up. It's got about 93k miles. Temps outside have been around 108 lately. I'll keep an eye on it and report back with changes.

 

I replaced the Cap and still no luck. How long should it normally take the engine to get to 180? I can reset the Code and start car (77degrees) and drive 2-3 miles and get --- when engine is 165. Pull over reset code and drive a mile and engine reads 185.
Confuesed.

 

Sounds like an air bubble issue, park the car front end higher then the rear, when it cools off open the rad hose cap to check coolant level.
It could be a faulty t-stat, if it is stuck open or has debris in it , it won't close to allow the coolant to warm up then open to regulate the coolant temp

 

If the tstat is faulty would it still possibly allow the temp gauge to fluctuate temperature like normal?

Like mine, it will fluctuate between 185-194. And then the next day it's between 174-181.

I've only gotten the "---" once in the last week. Or does this sound more like an air bubble?

 

Could be your heater core, I guess. That's where the bubbles usually are. You probably don't use it much to notice. Do you hear a "gurgle" in the waterfall area after a cold start?

 

No, not that I can tell. The wife drives it mostly though. I'll have to ask her, but I doubt she'll have any idea what I'm talkin about lol.

 

If you do, then burp the system as I said

 

Well I think my issue is finally resolved. Last Friday I drained the green coolant, flushed the system and threw another AC Delco Thermostat in it and filled back with the orange Dexcool and so far I it warms up within a mile of driving down the road instead of the 5-7 miles. I took the old thermostat and place in a pan of water and heated up to see when it opened. It opened at 180-183 and I continued to heat up to 220 then removed the heat and it closed back around 180 again. Could it have been the green antifreeze all along my friend put in when he changed the cheap autozone thermostat 3 months ago?

 

Yes it could have been the green stuff

 

Well its been 3 weeks and everything seems normal so it must have been the green stuff. Thanks everyone for their help.