Anybody take out the thermo during the summer months? The 190 in my car was keeping the gauge at about the 1/2 mark, and now it's only reaching 1/4 to 1/3. No warm up probs, it only needs a minute, and that's carbed! It might just be my imagination, but it seems to have more power too.

I can't see any possible probs by doing this, other than having to install it again come fall?

Let's see- Cold spots in the cylinders leading to faster wear, hot spots in the heads leading to cracks, and the possibility of overheating due to the coolant moving through the radiator too fast.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again- If the thermostat was an unnecessary part, automaker would save a buck by not using one. Pulling a t-stat is not a fix for anything unless you are replacing it with another one.

Bad idea. You won't get the oil hot enough to lubricate properly. And it won't burn off moisture it collects from condensation.

 

Cooler is NOT better on a daily driver. For the strip or the race track it's fine but all you are doing is shortening the life of your lubricants and your engine.

 

GD

Maybe I'm just looking for an excuse to do a EJ22 swap sooner?

Good points...now I see. I'm just pissed that I've gone through two thermostats in under a year and the napa premium was supposed to be a good one. This last time the car overheated just a few miles down the road, after just topping off the coolants. Guess that I'll go OEM, even though that will have to be a 190.

Maybe I'm just looking for an excuse to do a EJ22 swap sooner?

Good points...now I see. I'm just pissed that I've gone through two thermostats in under a year and the napa premium was supposed to be a good one. This last time the car overheated just a few miles down the road, after just topping off the coolants. Guess that I'll go OEM, even though that will have to be a 190.

 

Have you check to see if your radiator is clogged up a little? or your water pump? I'm not saying they are bad but just throughing them up as an Idea.

 

Jeff

oem tstats aren't terribly expensive. do it right and be done with it.

 

 

running an engine below operating temp is bad juju

If you do choose to go without a thermostat, you shoudl at least use a restrictor plate.

 

A ghetto way to do it is to simply grind off the arch that holds the spring and pellet on an old thermostat. The valve body will fall out of it and you have an *always open* thermostat. Flow will be a bit faster through the open hole, but not as bad as none at all.

Go to the dealership and buy you an OEM thermostat and gasket. Don't fool with that parts store crap when it comes to thermostats.

Have you check to see if your radiator is clogged up a little? or your water pump? I'm not saying they are bad but just throughing them up as an Idea.

 

Jeff

 

Is there an easy way to check for clogging? I've driven 50 miles without the t-stat, and no overheating, if that's a decent check. I'll go oem on both the t-stat and cap, rather than risk damage with just a restrictor plate. I'll need the t-stat come winter, anyway.

You could just flush it out with a garden hose and add new coolant after flushing.

I've got an 89 dl s/w m/t d/r. I too had problems with it overheating went through a couple thermostats. In the proccess of replacing broken timing belts and oil pump I had pulled the radiator and pressure washed it and got alot of junk out of it. It seemed to run a lot cooler at least I should say it didn't overheat any time I wasn't on flat ground, still got hot pulling any hill for any length of time. I had tried various different flushing products, back flushed etc...etc.. Finally this year I just bought a new radiator that we had sitting at our salvage yard for years and put that in. Now last weekend it was very near 100 degrees and we went camping(not the smartest thing I've ever done) and I pulled some long steep hills and that temp gauge never even budged. It still pings when I pull an incline, but I can live with that, just tickled it doesn't overheat anymore.

I use a cheap non-contact pyrometer I got at Harbor Freight a few years ago. I got mine for $40 on sale, they're less than that now regular price.

This is not the one I have, but is the proper tool and quite cheap:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=93983

You could just flush it out with a garden hose and add new coolant after flushing.

 

yep, push some water back through it (opposite from normal flow....), that'll clear any large deposits out.

I had a radiator that was clogged and I did a home flush. Take the rad out of the car and lay it on it's back with the hoses in place. Mix up some automatic dishwashing detergent. (powdered stuff) Use the hottest water you can and then pour the sloution into the radiator until it is completely full. Leave it there overnight. The alkali will eat the nasty stuff in the radiator. In the morning, use a hose and flush the rad in both directions, you will see alot of crap coming out. When you get clear water you are done. If you want you can do the overnight soak again.

 

My rad was seroiusly clogged from someone using stop leak to fix a bad intake gasket and all of the clog came out. The car runs super cool even on the hottest of summer days.

 

Your other option is to spring for a new rad. It really sounds like you are having flow problems.

 

Good luck

I had a radiator that was clogged and I did a home flush. Take the rad out of the car and lay it on it's back with the hoses in place. Mix up some automatic dishwashing detergent. (powdered stuff) Use the hottest water you can and then pour the sloution into the radiator until it is completely full. Leave it there overnight. The alkali will eat the nasty stuff in the radiator. In the morning, use a hose and flush the rad in both directions, you will see alot of crap coming out. When you get clear water you are done. If you want you can do the overnight soak again.

 

My rad was seroiusly clogged from someone using stop leak to fix a bad intake gasket and all of the clog came out. The car runs super cool even on the hottest of summer days.

 

Your other option is to spring for a new rad. It really sounds like you are having flow problems.

 

Good luck

 

Think I'll try this. It has been running pretty cool without the stat, but driving the 70mph zones causes it to creep up to over 1/2. I'm picking up the oem thermo and cap tomorrow!

Is there an easy way to check for clogging?...

If you don't want to spring for a pyrometer, you have a couple of options. One is to have a radiator shop do a flow test on it; often, these are free. The downside of this is that if you have an aluminum radiator (yuk!!!) it just tests flow and not cooling ability.

 

A second way to check is to use your palm as a pyrometer: Find a SAFE place on the radiator (away from whirring fans and belts; slightly tough on A/C equipped cars) and move your hand from top to bottom along the radiator fins while the engine is warmed up and running. You are feeling for horizontal bands of differing termperatures. Cooler bands indicate plugged tubes in the radiator. A free-flowing radiator should feel fairly uniformly hot from bottom to near the top (sometimes, the top little bit will be cooler because of low coolant level and thus no flow through them).

I did the same thing with a laser temperature reader a few years ago.

If you don't want to spring for a pyrometer, you have a couple of options. One is to have a radiator shop do a flow test on it; often, these are free. The downside of this is that if you have an aluminum radiator (yuk!!!) it just tests flow and not cooling ability.

 

A second way to check is to use your palm as a pyrometer: Find a SAFE place on the radiator (away from whirring fans and belts; slightly tough on A/C equipped cars) and move your hand from top to bottom along the radiator fins while the engine is warmed up and running. You are feeling for horizontal bands of differing termperatures. Cooler bands indicate plugged tubes in the radiator. A free-flowing radiator should feel fairly uniformly hot from bottom to near the top (sometimes, the top little bit will be cooler because of low coolant level and thus no flow through them).

 

Great tip, thanks! I'm going to flush it regardless, but that will be a decent check after it's flushed and installed.

Great tip, thanks! I'm going to flush it regardless, but that will be a decent check after it's flushed and installed.

 

 

Remember to make sure and burp the cooling system properly or you will wind up with an air bubble trapped in your cooling system. If you hear a gurgling sound, thats air trapped.

OEM t-stats have a little bleed hole at the top, and any t-stat I install that doesn't have that hole gets a 1/16" hole drilled in it. This makes bleeding a breeze, and it doesn't have any effect on the operation of the thermostat.

BTW, I would be VERY careful using a garden hose to flush the cooling system. Typical domestic water pressure is at least 40PSI, and can go up to 80-100PSI. Your radiator and heater core were not designed for that kind of pressure.

I've had that gurgling before, it will be burped well. I'll use lower water pressure as well. I'll let all of you know how it went...prob won't get to it 'till tuesday. Thanks everyone!