Has anyone else noticed their Outlander Sport taking forever to warm up to normal operating temperature?

Granted I expect it to take longer in the 20-40*F ambient temps we have had lately but compared to my Evo's and other past cars it takes a good 10 minutes before getting up to 180-190*F coolant temp range even on the highway. It's almost as if the bypass is too large or somehow the thermostat is stuck open. Cranking the heat on high means It actually keeps it below full temp unless you are running on the highway where there is higher engine load.

I wouldn't normally worry about it too much except that I'm trying to test various parts of my customized ECU tune. The MPG is quite a bit worse when running on a colder engine and I have it programmed to dial back the MIVEC when not above 170*F as well.

Maybe it's just a bad Thermostat that is hung slightly open, or maybe there is just too much airflow chilling the radiator for it to warm up fast with the bypass flowing constantly.

 

Now that you mention it, I have noticed the temp lag in rising compared to previous autos. I just never gave it much thought since it doesn't change my daily driving habits a bit.

Maybe it takes longer to warm because of the open spaces in the engine compartment compared to other vehicles.

 

I guess it could be normal for this car then, we'll see what others have seen with their own Outlander Sports and draw concusions from there. The engine bay does have more room in it but I'm betting the bypass flow is too high and it's delaying warmup. Since it's probably not that hard to swap I may buy an aftermarket thermostat that fits and has the correct opening temp and compare the bypass flow. It's supposed to be small like the head of a ball point pen.

 

Yeah, good luck with your tests on that. I'm not worried as there isn't a huge demand for a quicker engine warm up here in the desert.

 

I hear ya, during the summer it was slower to warm up but maybe only a minute difference between the Outlander Sport and the Evo X. For best gas mileage you want the engine temps to pretty much warm up to 175*F as quickly as possible and then hold stable +-5*F for a good balanced operating temp.

All those thermostats that open at 160*F or even 150*F and claim more power are helping keep the intake charge cooler but they overlook that the ECU is also typically still in warmup mode and the tune will be less aggressive so gains are lost. MPG will also suffer because the car is likely running richer as it warms up and the engine oil being cooler will tend to give you an increased wear rate. It's also generally the case that the hotter the engine runs safely, and the colder the intake charge is, the more power you can make but like all things you have to strike a balance.

It seems like the radiator systems on these cars are slightly over achieving so the system relies on the thermostat to regulate the temps where you want them, not necessarily a bad thing. For road racing in the Evo X I went with a double thick core so now the radiator outlet side is a good 15-20*F cooler on average and the thermostat holds the temps at the 175*F much easier and has more cooling capacity in reserve. Still when pushed hard the temps rise to 180-185*F which is above the thermostat opening point but still much better than stock. As the engine is asked to output more and more power, keeping the coolant temps in check becomes more difficult.

 

I have no problems with Warm up times with my outlander sport... I've noticed it acutally get shorter once I reached 9000 miles... maybe has something to do with your tune

 

The tune wouldn't really impact it but pulling out of a 60*F garage seems to make it much more normal in the 3-4 minutes range. If I leave it outside the car takes forever to heat up when you start out at 30*F, easily 7-8 minutes on the highway. I guess it could be normal.