BevoZ06

I have a C5 coupe and a C5 Z06. They are not used for track or excessively hard driving. Is there really any advantage to switch to 160* thermostat on either engine? We are in south central Texas, so is summer heat an important consideration?

Thanks.

2000BSME

depends on what you consider 'advantageous'. I ran one for a while, and in the winter my coolant didn't get above 167*F. That isn't hot enough to reliably burn off condensed water in the crank case imho. I put a 180* in and I'm happy with it.

I just don't think 167* is warm enough, but I didn't sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

dougbfresh

Razzputon

I'm stealing this emote.

Jay_Rich

I run 160s in all my summer cars, the heat isnt as good as a 160 actually opens at 160 but fully opens around 175. So The car will run in the 175-180 range. Now if you get cool nights like we do it sucks bc the heat isnt as good. But if you summer drive only and it gets hot they are nice, keeps the motor happy!

Also make sure u save some money to get someone to tune the fans to turn on earlier or it will do nothing. I just drove my vette last night without the fans tunned and it still hit 220*. Fans were tuned after I drove it and now she sits at a solid 175-180*


I tuned Fan#1 on 74* off 70*, Fan#2 on 80* off 76*

Jay

RLYSLO

I have a 170 thermostat in mine, and on cool days, it will throw a check engine light because it doesn't see it heat up to where it needs to be. I just see it as a pain, and wish I didn't do the swap.

I'm actually going to swap back to the stock t-stat. My upgraded radiator and fans do a great job of keeping the car cooled, so it won't go much above that stock stat temp.

BevoZ06

Thanks for the replies. I think I will keep them both stock.

CAP94

I have a 02 Z06, can I just switch out the thermostat or do you have to replace the stat housing as well?

AU N EGL

Jay_Rich

Its an entire housing. They run 45-60 depending on which, speed inc, hypertech, slp (overpriced)

Jay

Swayse

So weird, thermostat always turns in to a big debate, on every forum I've been on. I live out in the country, so I've got a 70 mph speed limit at the end of my driveway. This means I get plenty of air though my radiator, and my car runs nice and cool. And, if I hit my driveway fast enough, I can coast all the way into my garage. What this means is, with a 160 degree thermostat, I put less heat into my garage in the summer time.

vettenuts

Note you can modify the stock unit to open at any temp you want for under $1.

dougbfresh

Jay_Rich

yea I was gonna do this, I read it all up but decided to be 100% sure on what temp im getting id rather spend the 47 bucks.

Jay

C5XTASY

Sounds like the Vinci. I bought one of those and, in cooler early spring temperatures, engine temperatures would never get even close to 170. In fact, they would settle out around 145-150 degrees. As the outside temps started coming up so would engine temps and then settle out about 175, or so, but even then move around a fair amount. I sold the thing to someone in a warm climate and put a stocker back in. My fans have been tuned and temps stay in the 190s now, even on hot days.
Ed

CBackous

Really it depends on what you are trying to gain. as many posts by Evil Twin has stated, the LSX engine was designed to operate at this temperature with the goal of engine life first. If you reduce the tempature of the coolant and the engine, thats less heat in the oil, and thus could make it slightly thicker.

How much of a difference will this make? I honestly have no clue. If you are wanting to maximize power, you would need to increase thermal efficiency. From http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/atv.shtml :

Only about 15% of the energy from the fuel you put in your tank gets used to move your car down the road or run useful accessories, such as air conditioning. The rest of the energy is lost to engine and driveline inefficiencies and idling. Therefore, the potential to improve fuel efficiency with advanced technologies is enormous.

Friction is the biggest enemy to thermal efficiency. So it would seem, that making the oil thicker (even a small amount) would increase the drag on engine parts.

hardcore4sure

Is there any REAL advantage once you go H/C or can the fan programming take car of it?

Cratecruncher

Your on to something here. Thermal efficiency of an Otto cycle is work produced divided by heat added. The work is used to propel the auto forward obviously. Heat added is an unusual concept though. Simply put, it is the chemical bond energy of the gasoline released when oxidized during combustion. The heat released produces an almost instantaneous increase in the temperature of the combustion chamber (from about 400F to over 1300F!). Since pressure and temperature are proportional the piston is forced down during the power stroke converting the heat added into useful work.

Unfortunately about 75% of the potential heat added to produce work gets wasted however. Some goes into doing work to compress the intake charge before ignition. Some heat gets pushed out of the cylinder with the exhaust gases. Some gets lost to oil and other internal friction. Much of it gets lost to COOLANT. Yes, the coolant is constantly robbing the engine of precious heat. It removes heat in order to prevent the intake charge from igniting spontaneously prior to the spark. The guys at GM would love to run the LS1 at 800+ degrees but unfortunately that's not feasible given current technology. 210- 225 degrees F is about the highest they could get with a 10.25/1 compression and premium unleaded without preignition problems. So one of the biggest heat thieves in your engine is the heat transfer directly from the combustion chamber to your water jacket. Recall that heat transfer rate is proportional to the difference in temperature of the hot and cold bodies. (Anyone that likes their coffee hot can relate to that.) So if you lower your operating temperature with a cold thermostat you are robbing your engine of even more heat. That wastes a lot of gasoline and reduces power with all other things being equal. It's also hard on your engine because the clearances and oil viscosity are designed for a higher temperature. So people that drive around with their engine below operating temperature in order to "make it last longer" are also wearing it out faster.

With all this why would someone want to drive their Corvette around with the engine below operating temperature? I have no idea. Work = Heat In - Heat Out

Here is some further reading on the Otto cycle and thermal efficiency:
http://web.mit.edu/16.unified/www/FA...es/node26.html

dougbfresh

Ramble, Ramble, ramble---

hardcore4sure

Soooo, does that mean there is or isn't any REAL advantage once you go H/C or can the fan programming take car of it?