wondering if anybody has encountered this issue.16 kia optima. upper radiator hose is hot, bottom one is ice cold .good heat, does not overheat. temp gauge runs in the normal range. some mechanics say its normal other says not. even dealer had no clue! any advice appreciated.
Take the radiator cap off and run the vehicle for a while parked until it gets up to normal operating temperature to insure there's no air in the system and it's flowing properly. if it gets up to normal operating temperature as it usually does and doesn't overheat, i wouldn't worry too much about it.
The hot/cold condition when car is parked indicates the thermostat is closed. That is normal when it's cold weather.
If you get the engine warmer, the thermostat will open and you'll feel the temperatures equalize. To test, check the hoses after you finished driving somewhere and parked, when the car is fully warmed up to operating temperature and idling, preferably sheltered from cold wind/weather.
If the thermostat never opens, your engine will exceed the normal temperature/overheat. That means you should replace the thermostat.
doesn't matter if I drive it 2 miles or 100 miles lower hose stays ice cold, yet it has awesome heat and hasn't overheated yet. no loss of coolant bottle stays in same full position. thanks.
Ice is pretty cold.
It would be interesting to get either a handheld temp reading of external hose surfaces and or a reading from the engine's ECU via the odb2 connection, you know like thru Torque app for example. Any possibility of such info?
The hose staying cold means your thermostat is staying closed and not opening.
This is a problem that will result in overheating once the weather warms up. Replacing the thermostat should be a good DIY project. I haven't specifically done it on my optima but I've done it on other cars and it's fairly easy.