Thermostat or coolant issue? Garage near ICAD gave me two different answers
Quote from josestanton on November 5, 2026, 10:15 amSlightly losing my mind with this one. My Wrangler started running hot a couple of weeks back, nothing extreme but the gauge sits higher than it used to and it takes ages to warm up in the mornings which I know is backwards. Took it to a garage near ICAD and the first guy said thermostat, the second guy at the same place said coolant's breaking down and needs a full flush. Both sounded plausible and neither bothered to actually test anything, which is what annoyed me. So before I go back and let them pick a repair for me I've been reading up on it myself and came across a Trusted overview of Jeep coolant and thermostat failures near ICAD that explained how the two problems can look almost identical from the driver's seat. Now I'm fairly convinced it's the thermostat sticking open but I'm not confident enough to just tell them what to do. Anyone had a thermostat go on theirs and did it throw any codes or was it purely a gauge and heater thing?
Slightly losing my mind with this one. My Wrangler started running hot a couple of weeks back, nothing extreme but the gauge sits higher than it used to and it takes ages to warm up in the mornings which I know is backwards. Took it to a garage near ICAD and the first guy said thermostat, the second guy at the same place said coolant's breaking down and needs a full flush. Both sounded plausible and neither bothered to actually test anything, which is what annoyed me. So before I go back and let them pick a repair for me I've been reading up on it myself and came across a Trusted overview of Jeep coolant and thermostat failures near ICAD that explained how the two problems can look almost identical from the driver's seat. Now I'm fairly convinced it's the thermostat sticking open but I'm not confident enough to just tell them what to do. Anyone had a thermostat go on theirs and did it throw any codes or was it purely a gauge and heater thing?