laron

Hi..I just got a 160 thermostat and want to put it on tomorrow...I also have a diablo sport tuner...

On my a4 2.73 geared C5.. At what temps should I turn the fans on and off for the new 160 stat???

Also...Do you install the 2004 thermos pretty much the same way as the 97-03 styles?

MrLeadFoot

I think you should find out what your car wants to run at naturally, because I bet our cars ALL run slightly differently.

For example, when I put my 160 in, I didn't change any fan settings at first, and noticed that down the freeway during the heat of 100 degree summer weather, my car ran between 176 and 178 constantly. And it ran GOOD at that temp. I mean, it was very noticeable compared to how sh|ttily it ran at the factory 200 temps.

The tuner I went to later set the fans to come on at 172 so that the car wouldn't get a chance to run too hot, but since my car liked the 176-178 range, that made the fans stay on all the time. So, I had him re-adjust them so that they come on at 183, and turn off at 178. Sure, it may sound like a small range, and I'm sure other forum members will have their own opinions (flame disclaimer), but on cool days, the fans come on very rarely, like only when I idle for long periods, and even then, they only come on for a very short period. On hot days the fans will obviously come on more often and for longer periods, but they're not on all the time. When I run down the freeway, the car lowers to 178 and they turn off. That's the only drawback to having a pro tuner tune your car. At least with handheld you can go back in and tweak things like fans.

As far as installing your particular 'stat, it will be the same procedure.

Hope this helps.

SLPRC5

I've doen the same with my 160 thermo and the car runs a lot better in traffic I get to 185 on cool days..on the hi-way in cool weather 170 to 178..

RichieRichZ06

Mine is set at to come on at about 183 and the cars runs perfect in traffic and all

laron

Just installed my 160 thermo...Took about 10 minutes max...

Car is now cruising from 180-190 degrees vrs 200-210 degrees with the stock thermostat....

I changed my fans to both onat 184 and both off at 178..

Car feels a lot better and everytime she gets close to 190 she dropps down to 180 degrees in stop and go traffic..

EASILY THE BEST 20$ IVE SPENT ON MY 04 C5 THIS FAR...I CANT WAIT TO GO TO THE TRACK AND RUN HOT LAPS ON THIS NOW KOOL ENGINE VRS THE OLD 210-215 FROM HOT LAPPING.

binkysgarage

Can you install the 160 and not change the fan settings?

skelly1

Yes

RichieRichZ06

It will work fine cruising around, but in stop and go traffic or idling it defeats the purpose of having a 160 stat in it. The temp will creap up to the normal fan on temp before they will come on.

0EG@EnglandGreen

Low: 185 on
Low: 175 off

High: 195 on
High: 185 off

25,000 cross country and heavy traffic miles later - no worries.

edensknight

laron

Well I thought she was getting close to 190 degrees by looking at my coolant temp guage. but after checking my little computer screen behind the steering wheel.....It says the temp is staying between 181 and 185 degrees..

Now what im about to say may sound stupid..But Ive got over 200 1/4 mile passes with this car and I beleave my SOTP butt o meter is pretty accurrate..

The car seems like it's pulling a little harder at 180 degrees vrs the normal 205 degrees it was with the OEM thermostat..

I remember when the car was bone stockand we dynoed it with a 205 degree engine...It pulled 287 rwhp..

Then after waiting 30 minutes with the car off and a huge fan blowing the engine...we redynoed the car at 180 degress and the car made 299 rwhp..

Maybe Im actually feeling the extra 12 rwhp from the cooler engine or maybe Im just full of crap...

I always hot lap my car at the track and pull 13.0-13.2 at 107-109 mph on a 210 degree engine...

ill take it to the track this friday with the only change being the 160 thermostat and hot lap it as usual ad see if theres any change in ET or MPH.

I live in Hawaii so the weather really dosent change much at all and wont be a huge factor.

MrLeadFoot

Eh, Bra, Howzit?

Instead of writing the rest of this post in Pidgin English, I'll just write this in plain English so that other interested forum members will know what I'm saying.

First of all, you are NOT full of crap. Your a$$ is smarter than you think, contrary to your junior high teacher who thought you were a smart-a$$. Your SOTP experience is right on the money.

My car demonstrated a significant performance improvement even on the street, with just the 'stat change.

Here are the things I noticed right off the bat, and I certainly wasn't looking for any performance gains from just a simple 'stat change, yet these changes made themselves very obvious:

1) Ping under heavy load disappeared. The ping I had was especially bad on hot days, when coolant temps got up near 200 degrees.

2) Immediately, I noticed that there was considerably less effort to get the car moving from a dead stop. Previously, in city driving the temps would get up near 200, and I really had to give more gas, and slip more clutch to get the car moving.

3) Gas mileage improved.

4) When I got on it to pass other cars or accelerate onto a freeway, I noticed the car seemed to WANT to go faster, when I previously felt like I was PUSHING it to go faster. Does that make sense?

Like your car, temps dropped dramatically even without changing fan temp settings. At low freeway speeds, even in 100 degree weather, my car ran 178 degrees without fans. So, when I did finally get my custom tune (sh|tty as it might be), I had the fans set to come on at 182 and turn off at 178. With these settings I haven't seen the car get any hotter than 183 degrees.

I, for one, would really like to hear your measured results from your next track outing. I would be VERY surprised if you don't see a change. In fact, if you don't see a change, I'd probably chock that up to you driving your car on "Hawaiian Time".

Shaka, Bra!
\nnn/ <=== Shaka sign

laron

tHANKS ....SEEMS LIKE YOUR A 160 STAT BELEAVER AS WELL..

Ill post up how she goes soon

MrLeadFoot

I didn't start out being a 160 stat believer at first.

Discovering the performance benefit was an accident. You see, I had this pinging that plagued me from day one. I tried everything. Cleaned the intake and pistons with GM Top Cleaner (see pics below), added a catch-can, searched for higher octane and/or better gas all over the place, tried octane boosters, and even considered adding raw chemicals to the gas (thankfully I didn't). At the same time, I thought that the car ran too damned hot anyway, so I did the throttle body bypass hoping maybe the cooler throttle body might send a different signal to the computer, but that didn't do squat.

The whole time I was thinking, damn, this car runs hot, so I figured I would throw in a lower t-stat, since I had one on my C4. Lo and behold, the ping went away! And, along with that came more power, better gas mileage and overall better drivability. I was shocked sh|tless, to say the least. I don't care what anyone else says, no matter what kind of degree they have in which applied science. I know for a fact that these cars run WAY better at 180-ish than they do at 200. Whoever thought that up must've been the same one that didn't think far enough down the road about the executives' salaries and pension plans at GM! (I had to throw that in there.)

Yes, please post numbers. I'd love to see the proof on paper.

OK, now here's pics of the fun I had de-carbing. Oh, and it was even more fun than it looks because I didn't realize it would smoke that much, and I had the top off the car. So, I ended up having to drive like a bat out of he|| just to keep from the stench from getting into the into the interior's fibers and all. Even ripping down the road I nearly asphyxiated myself on the smoke!

FWIW, the last pic is what happens to your oil during the de-carb procedure, so an immediate oil change is an absolute must! (Another reason to have a see-through catch-can.)

laron

im now a 160 stat beleaver!!!!!!!

I just got back from the drag strip....

The best I normally ever do is as follows...

2.03-2.2
8.55-8.7
84-86.5 mph
13.0-13.2
106.9-108.9 mph

Tonight I had to sneek off after the wife fell asleep at 11 PM and went to the strip.

Since the strip closes at 12AM I only got to go twice..

The first run my pcm pulled tremendous timing and I ran a 14.3 at 101 mph...

I went and reset the pcm with my Diablo sport and then ran this....

2.11
8.55
87.5 mph!!!!!
13.0
107.9

87.5 mph is a new record for me and it's also the first time Ive ever pulled a 13.0 off a 2.1 60 ft..

Done plenty of them off 2.0's but never a 2.1!!!!!!

The car had been running for about 1 hour before I did that run..With the 160 degree thermo theres now no need to let the car kool down or open the hood..

The temp stayed a nice 185 the hole time at the track and I still ran my 108 mph....

Normally if I dont let her Kool down I wont do much better than 107.3...


Then on top of that things are happenning that never happenned before....

My car has 370 rwhp on a Kool 180 degree engine..

Of course before the 160 thermo my engine was always around 200 degrees and my actual rwhp while driving around was more like 355-360 rwhp...

Now with the 160 thermo Im actually getting the 370 rwhp and for the first time ever my car will kick on the traction control any time I punch it...

I SWEAR THIS IS TRUE....I was on the freeway coming from the track doing around 70 mph and I punched it...

The car lunged forward with the screech from my tires and then the traction control came on!!!!!

At 70 mph!!!!!

Did the same thing at 30 mph and tried it again and BAM..traction control comes on...

I was kinda scared that maybe my trannie was giving out or somthing..So I turned off traction control and NO PROBLEMS..

Car took off like a rocket burning rubber from 30 mph and rocketing from 70 mph....Changed gears just fine...


And this was in completely dry weather...

I dont care what anyone says. I WILL SWEAR BY THIS PRODUCT..

87.5 mph is insane for my car...

13.0 off a 2.1 60 ft is unherd of in my car...

Best 20 bucks I ever spent.

laron

ttt

BlackMoon

I just ordered a 160 stat and will install when I receive it. Can someone direct me on how to change the fan settings. I don't want to spend the money on a programer just for that. Speaking of programers, what improvements can be made on a stock 2003 with a 6 speed. The more I read it seems that most changes are made to the automatic shifting.
Thanks in advance for the advice.
PS My car runs up to 220 - 230 when sitting at a drive thru. Once the fans kick on it drops back to 200. Can the dealer help with this problem.
Thanks again.