With the winter season coming up I'm trying to figure out a weird issue I'm having with my water temp. I have to manually open and close my heater core valve in order to get heat in the car (long story, I've posted about it a while back). Anyway, lately I've noticed that whenever I do have the heater core valve open the water temp gauge does not move at all for the first 5 min or so and then just quickly moves up to 180. I know it's not the gauge because both the stock gauge and the aftermarket one do the same thing. Could this be a sign of a clogged heater core or maybe there's an issue with the thermostat? I only happens with the heater core open, when it's closed this issue doesn't happen.
Follow Ups
Signs of a clogged heater core? - YlwPrlZTT15:05:41 09/21/15