Remote stat options

[Mr Locust]

J/L

 

Just seen this thread again, glad to see you got the result you wanted from your modifications.

 

Don't discount what your instruments are saying so hastily without thinking if there is a plausible explanation.

 

I let it idle in the parking lot for about 3 minutes........it said 97, if I turn off the heater fan, it says 92

 

Consider these features of the system to see if it makes sense of what you have seen:

 

The heater is in the bypass line.

The bypass line provides the coolant flow to the bulb of the thermostat.

The thermostat attempts to regulate the bulk temperature of the coolant based on the temperature of the flow returned from the bypass line (measured where it exits the head).

At low idle the coolant flow is at its minimum because the water pump is engine driven.

 

Is it not feasible that at low idle, the heater is lowering the temperature of the bypass stream by 5°C (whilst warming your legs) and the thermostat is simply responding to the temperature it is seeing by warming up the engine in response to the cooler bypass flow.

 

Or an alternative view point is, on a cold day the engine warms up a bit more to help the heater be more effective.