Hello, I am posting this question on behalf of my mother, regarding a 1994 Mazda Miata that she only drives once a week for short errands. The neighbor advised that she idle/run the engine for ten to fifteen minutes every few days to improve the health of the car. Lately she noticed the hood getting very hot during these sessions. The summer heat contributes but she thinks it is still too hot. The meter in the dashboard that gives a hot/cool reading points to just below halfway, after the engine has been idling for a while. When she drives a few minutes down the road for weekly errands the meter’s dial will point to just below halfway between hot and cool, also. Is this normal?
She will need to drive a half-hour trip soon and I want to be sure the car is fit to drive that far. Any help is appreciated!
Letting the car just sit and idle is not good. It needs to be driven.
The hood is going to get hot because, well, the car isn’t being driven. so the engine gets hot and the hood gets hot,
As long as the coolant temperature gauge doesn’t approach the overheating zone, which it sounds like it isn’t, then there’s nothing to worry about.
Tester
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Sounds normal to me . Nothing wrong with that .