heat issue
 

I have a brand new 2010 caravan with a 3.3 LT engine and lately the temperature outside has been around -8 to -15 c. I have a full winter front compleately closed and the van plugged in all day while at work, and I use my remote start to start the van 10 to 15 min prior to leaving work. Its about 9 km to home and takes between 15 and 20 min to get home depending on traffic. By the time I get home the tempurature guage is just reaching the 1/4 mark and Im just starting to get half decent heat by the time I'm home. Normally when up to full temperature the needle sits at the half way mark on the guage, but to get it to that mark it has to be driven at least 30 to 45 minutes. Why is this taking so long to warm up. My wife is driving a rental jeep at the moment because her car is in the shop and there is no winter front and no command start and she can start it stone cold and drive away and has serious heat in three blocks. Why is there such a difference. And the jeep is only a little 2.4 LT engine. I took it into the crysler dealer but they are trying to tell me there's nothing wrong with it. I've owned a lot of vehicles in my life and I've never had a vehicle this bad for heat before. There has to be a reason the engine wont warm up to temperature. Is there perhaps a different chip that could be changed in the computer to help it warm up faster?

maybe they forgot to install the thermostat at the factory lol
might have been built on a friday before a long weekend

All joking aside, hemi has the right idea. A thermostat is designed to fail in the open position allowing coolant to reach the radiator. Despite having the full winter front, the therms being lost thru the radiator are fairly significant. Cheap repair, though it may void your warranty if you try it yourself, not sure on that one. Joe