Hi all,

I usually don't post in the FWD forum as I drive a 945, but this is a question I am attempting to answer for my ex-wife (who drives my kids around).

Recently she stated that the radiator cooling fan funs all the time. It runs from the time the car is started under several minutes after it is shut off.

Around the same time this started, the car was difficult to start. It would take several attempts before it would catch.

Finally, the temp gauge only goes half as high as it used to while the cabin never heats up.

Keep in mind that since this has started the temperatures here in the Northeast have ranged from 0F to 30F. The majority of the last couple of weeks has been teens and below.

I am speculating that the thermostat is stuck open and that is causing the low coolant temps/low cabin temps but I was also wondering if there could be an engine coolant temp that is telling the ECU that the engine is already to hot, hence radiator fan running at startup and the hard starting.

Have any of you had a similar problem or have any insight?

It's supposed to be in the 30's this weekend so I was going to change out the thermostat quickly to see if that is the cause of any of the problems.

TIA,
Ian