Two problems

My 96 Sidekick Sport has a peculiar "cooling" problem. The car (now that it's winter, BTW) would warm up normally at idle but as soon as you drove it anywhere (especially at highway speed) the temp would drop to the bottom peg instantly. The problem was diagnosed by as a bad fan clutch. Both it and the thermostat (which was replaced two years ago) were changed. Problem not solved. Another (new) thermostat installed resulting in no improvement. We're waiting for a factory Suzuki part to arrive. Any other ideas?

Two, the drivers door lock tends to freeze. You can OPEN the door when it's cold, but you can't CLOSE the door. The lockinterior mechanism won't recapture. Short of pulling the interior panel and hosing the lock mechanism down with lube does anyone have any ideas?

To me it sounds like thermostat and pull the door panel.

Cooling: Shot in the dark, but is it possible that you've got the T-stat in backwards/upside down? Are you using factory T-stats or aftermarket (Stant)?

Door lock: Sorry, but I've never had any 'easy' fixes other than pulling the panel and cleaning and lubing the mech.

Suzukis don't burn enough gas to stay warm. Swap in a V8 with a Holley carb, and be warm year round.

Pull the door panel and lube the crap out of everything that moves, and make sure none of the lock rods are bent, or have fallen out of any guides they may have.

I fought this same problem on the '88 I had last winter. I gave up(read: didn't want to spend the money) before totally confirming it, but it was either a cracked head and/or head gasket.

I posted and searched all the Zuk forums too. It's a pretty common occurrence, but it's pretty rare for people to actually fix it.

Do the old fashioned thing and put a piece of cardboard in front of the radiator. Cover about half. Thats why trucks and bus's use winter fronts.

Well, the solution was interesting. The factory Suzuki part performed flawlessly and is now installed. Got enough heats to "melt a crayon" per the mechanic, and he's not too far from the truth. They put both the aftermarket and factory t-stat in a bucket of hot water and they both opened and closed at the same time and in the same manner. The theory is that the factory part has a stronger spring.

So, a possible lesson for all the Zookers out there--use the FACTORY thermostat.

My ancient Supra did that door lock thing in the winter, too (and sometimes in the summer too). I used to pour warm water onto it when open, and flip the latch dog with a screwdriver and a good thump. But yeah, the real solution is to pull the door handle and grease the heck out of everything with some light grease.

Interesting Stroker. Don't understand why the oem worked and a working aftermarket didn't. But I'm going to tuck that away for future reference.

Seems more and more these days I find myself getting factory parts. The aftermarket parts are not as cost competitive as they used to be, and it seems like I keep running into more and more problems with them.

Ah yes, I have donated my morning coffee to get my sidekick's latch to close more than once... It only does it a couple times a year with really bad ice, so I've never bothered to take the door apart to fix it. Its really not a hard job, though, and if it does it often I wouldn't hesitate to just take the door panel off and fix it.

my 1.4ltr corolla used to have the same super low temp issue. The reason: one of the diffuser trays underneath had given up and fallen off, allowing WAAAAAY more airflow thru the radiator than the designers meant, making the cooling system over efficient. In the summer, this was great...cruise around all day int he city in 95° weather with the air on full in the city, no problems. But in the winter, the heater produced no warm air. Glad to see that your problem was fixed...I just did the cardboard trick for the last 2 winters I had it...with hot rod flames one year and a giant TRD emblem the last

97 less than Jay-Z.

i bet a female dog aint one