Coolant Thermostat Needs Replacing How Long Can I Wait?
#41
The point I am trying to make is you have only touched about 10% of the cooling system. The coolant system is the part of the car that ages the worst. Yours is showing signs that it was not maintained. You can expect more problems in the future. Think of it as a rotting deck in your back yard. You replaced 4 boards that broke. Thinking the rest of the deck is good now is just wishful thinking. Any time the motor overheats is cause excessive wear. Head gaskets and pistons/rings are the most likely spot for damage. It is pretty rare to just have an engine wear out. Normally a worn engine will get stresses and fail. 50% of the time that stress is an over heating.
Honestly what thermostat you use is not important. What is important is that you NEVER drive a car if the Thermostat is not opening. I recommend the AC delco replacement or anything made by Stat with the factory specs (195 deg). The Thermostat is an on/off switch for the coolant system. In the summer I doubt it ever turns off. As long as it opens at or near the 195 deg point it is working. It will have no effect on how hot your car is getting. That is a function of a lot of other factors. If you want to buy the $2 thermostat fine just boil some water and test it to make sure it opens. (see youtube)
The 160 thermostat is more expensive due to volume. They make millions and millions of stock thermostats. A 160 deg Thermostat is not stock, it is for performance application. To use it correctly you would need to have you car dyno tuned for lower temps and the fan temps adjusted lower. Putting one in a stock car will just make it take longer to warm up in the winter.
Honestly what thermostat you use is not important. What is important is that you NEVER drive a car if the Thermostat is not opening. I recommend the AC delco replacement or anything made by Stat with the factory specs (195 deg). The Thermostat is an on/off switch for the coolant system. In the summer I doubt it ever turns off. As long as it opens at or near the 195 deg point it is working. It will have no effect on how hot your car is getting. That is a function of a lot of other factors. If you want to buy the $2 thermostat fine just boil some water and test it to make sure it opens. (see youtube)
The 160 thermostat is more expensive due to volume. They make millions and millions of stock thermostats. A 160 deg Thermostat is not stock, it is for performance application. To use it correctly you would need to have you car dyno tuned for lower temps and the fan temps adjusted lower. Putting one in a stock car will just make it take longer to warm up in the winter.
Per my trusty auto shop mechanic, My t-stat is already in the Open position or my car would overheat. By "overheat," I am pretty sure he means at the least worrisome being very very near the red zone in the inside cabin temp gauge at the worst worrisome having smoke come out of it.
#42
Stants premium line are all fail safe. If they were to fail, they fail in the open position so the vehicle can't overheat. They come in handy.
A 160 degree will begin to open at 160 degrees, it doesn't just go wide open.
If the shop was doing all this work, they should have suggested the cooling system be flushed and coolant changed
A 160 degree will begin to open at 160 degrees, it doesn't just go wide open.
If the shop was doing all this work, they should have suggested the cooling system be flushed and coolant changed
#43
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Eastern PA,
Posts: 10,462
Per my trusty auto shop mechanic, My t-stat is already in the Open position or my car would overheat. By "overheat," I am pretty sure he means at the least worrisome being very very near the red zone in the inside cabin temp gauge at the worst worrisome having smoke come out of it.
Last edited by Gorn; 07-01-2017 at 07:46 PM.
#46
this poor guy has a Disability an so do i from an on the job incident ,so we all should relax ,an not say anything that may make someone feel bad.at one. time i had no clue how to do one either ,an that $5.00 part can wreck an engine ,happy 4th he probley ment closed
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