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[JM]

My 99 Altima seems to be taking longer to warm up than I would expect -- I
had it idling for about 10 minutes today in around 0C weather, and when I
finally had the snow cleared from around it, the temp gauge was just
starting to come up off of the C mark.

It never takes very long for there to be some heat out of the heater, but I
find it takes a long time to reach the normal mark on the gauge, and for
there to be decent heat out of the vents. It seems to warm up more gradually
than my old '94, which would usually reach the normal range very quickly
once the needle came up off of the cold mark.

Does this sound like a stuck (open) thermostat?

[Gordo]

After it warms up a bit little, feel the rad. It should still be cold. If
it is warm then the thermostat is open and allowing warm coolant into the
rad too early. Sounds like a thermostat though, doesn't it? 0 isn't that
cold yet.

Gordo

[Jason]

Remember, without a load on the engine, its not really putting out much heat
for the cooling system to absorb. The quickest way to warm an engine is to
let it idle till the oil pressure has stabilized, you can tell that when the
engine drops in RPM's drop from the cold start speed down to its normal
operating speed. At that point you can start driving, but don't race the
engine till the temp gauge is reading normal. Most auto makers now
recommend this to just letting the engine idle till the heater has thawed
out the rest of the car.

[Codifus]

wasteful to let the car idle. It will take too long as there is no load,
as you mentioned. If you want to
let the car idle, I'll admitt I do that now because it's brutally cold,
you may want to put the AC compressor on with the heat at the hot
setting. The AC will put a load on the engine which will make it warm up
faster and while idling the car will be blowing gradually warmer air
into the cabin.

Of course it's gotten so cold that even the AC refuses to engage untill
the car has warmed up even the littlest bit.

CD

[mishuleo]