[DracoZaroff]

My brand new '14 Versa Note doesn't seem to heat up very well. The temp guage won't even move until I start driving no matter how long I let it warm up.
I've even driven it a mile down the road in which time the guage reaches about half way then left it idle for about 20 minutes to find the guage all the way back down again.
I'm worried that the thermostat might be stuck open. Anyone else have this sort of thing happen?

 

[Note-ified]

pretty much normal for the Note as far as i know, mine has always taken around 10-15 minutes for the gauge to start moving...also the Note has a built in oil cooler so it takes a little longer for the oil to heat up in the engine

 

[DracoZaroff]

Thanks. I needed to know if others were difficult to warm up too. It has been unholy cold here and so impossible to tell if it was normal.

 

[robj80]

at least you have a temp gauge. The rest of us just have a stupid light.

I have found that with this tiny engine idling does not bring the car up to temp for a long time. I had let me car warm up for almost half an hour once. I got in the car expecting it to be toasty warm as it was well below freezing outside. Nope the blue light was on and car still cold. I don't normally warm up my car for this reason and the fact that it just wastes a ton of gas.

 

[SilverV]

Yeah this small engine takes a while to warm up especially in winter.

Best way to warm it up is just drive it. I usually let my car idle 30 seconds, on really cold days maybe one minute or until the RPMs settle down a bit.

One time I had ice all over my car but forgot my scrapper and I think I sat for nearly 30 minutes and it barely got warm enough to heat the windows that much. Then again having the settings to defrost max heat and max fan speed was probably cooling off the engine more. LOL

 

[07Versa6MT]

This is exacerbated by the fact that it has a thermostat for the heater core/bypass loop as well, all this so the engine warms up and gets to closed loop as fast as possible.

 

[Note-ified]

do the older versa's have an oil cooler even?

 

[Versa12]

Letting a econo car like the Versa sit and idle is a waste of time. It takes so long for these engines the heat up that it isnt worth it. Not to mention, immediately turning on the heat/defroster makes it take even longer to heat up.

Getting in it and driving it is going to heat it up much faster. Also, the coolant temperature isnt a good indication as to how warm the engine is. Sure, the coolant may be hot but the oil takes much longer to heat up. The oil is really what heats up the motor as it heat soaks it and doesnt have a huge radiator that cools it down over and over.

My Versa sedan takes a long time to warm up as well.

 

[07Versa6MT]

Wow they put an oil cooler in the Notes? Trickle down effect, used to be a heavy duty/high end thing, to have an engine oil cooler. Is it one of those units that mounts right on the block somewhere or is it inside the rad? I stick by what i said, these motors (least the MR's...) have two thermostats, this is the main reason you don't get heat very fast. Natural convection currents in the block is all it takes to keep an idling engine cool (to a point). Heat up time is mainly just a function of RPM, factory method for warmup is 3K for 10 minutes or something like that. Coolant temp is a good indication for heat, with as little oil as there is to heat up in these 4 bangers the oil is the first thing to heat up, then coolant. And like i said convection currents will keep the engine cool at idle, for a time. When driving around in the winter sometimes it takes a half hour of driving for my rad thermostat to open. Even the heater core is apparently enough to keep the motor cool in the winter. Also depends on where they put the sensor used for the gauge, usually it's near the water pump, the coolant "bridge" where all the coolant gets split off or routed to bypass/heater core, in my motor it's on the tranny side of the block, before the water control valve. When i replaced both my thermostats, rad hoses and flush and fill, it took an HOUR sitting in the shop idling for the (radiator) thermostat to FINALLY open.

 

[DracoZaroff]

I'm the kind of person who cares more about my car's condition than my own comfort so I found that if I turn the heater off the engine warms up fine. And I guess I'm OK with that.
It might be worth looking into an electric heater for the cabin. It might be more efficient.

 

[Note-ified]

Wow they put an oil cooler in the Notes? Trickle down effect, used to be a heavy duty/high end thing, to have an engine oil cooler. Is it one of those units that mounts right on the block somewhere or is it inside the rad? I stick by what i said, these motors (least the MR's...) have two thermostats, this is the main reason you don't get heat very fast. Natural convection currents in the block is all it takes to keep an idling engine cool (to a point). Heat up time is mainly just a function of RPM, factory method for warmup is 3K for 10 minutes or something like that. Coolant temp is a good indication for heat, with as little oil as there is to heat up in these 4 bangers the oil is the first thing to heat up, then coolant. And like i said convection currents will keep the engine cool at idle, for a time. When driving around in the winter sometimes it takes a half hour of driving for my rad thermostat to open. Even the heater core is apparently enough to keep the motor cool in the winter. Also depends on where they put the sensor used for the gauge, usually it's near the water pump, the coolant "bridge" where all the coolant gets split off or routed to bypass/heater core, in my motor it's on the tranny side of the block, before the water control valve. When i replaced both my thermostats, rad hoses and flush and fill, it took an HOUR sitting in the shop idling for the (radiator) thermostat to FINALLY open.

i found it odd to for a little 4 banger such as this to have an oil cooler but sure enough when i was checking it out i saw 2 lines running from the oil filter sandwich plate to the radiator..kinda cool though knowing that if i take this thing out to the track i dont have to worry to much about overheating oil lol

 

[Kennethbokor]

These current Temps are extreme and not the norm. Most cases you should not have any heat issues in Winter with the Note. Unless the thermostat is stuck open, you should get lots of heat.

1.6L takes a bit longer to heat up, but with this extreme cold even my 1.8L is just getting a bit warmer than "luke warm". Usually I have to turn the heat down as it gets too hot in normal winter temps.