Change Thermostat ?
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 4,147
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From: Port St. Lucie West Florida
Change Thermostat ?
I have a 95 Vette and am curious about this. I Live in Florida so I'm always using the A/C which turn on the fans. I have a Dewitt's rad. My question is would the vehicle run cooler with a 160 dg stat ( fans are always on) Or just leave the stock 180 dg stat. If I use the 160 stat I won't have to reprogram the fans as it's always on.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jul 2004
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From: Clifton Park, NY ............Clearwater, FL ... 85 Original Owner
I have a 95 Vette and am curious about this. I Live in Florida so I'm always using the A/C which turn on the fans. I have a Dewitt's rad. My question is would the vehicle run cooler with a 160 dg stat ( fans are always on) Or just leave the stock 180 dg stat. If I use the 160 stat I won't have to reprogram the fans as it's always on.
Racer
Joined: May 2013
Posts: 405
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From: Panama City Beach Florida
Don't believe it would
With your Dewitt radiator you have done all you can really do as you say your fans are running all the time with the A/C on. What temps do you run on rare occasion that you do not need the A/C on? (Digital gauge) My 94 has std radiator/180 stat and is ok in our FL temps although when the temp gets up near the 228 degree mark (fan kick in temp), it can get a little "toasty" in the cockpit! I have thought about the Dewitt radiator and hence the temp question.
Your car looks like a clone of mine except for wheels! Black in FL is a "hot" color. (actually)
Your car looks like a clone of mine except for wheels! Black in FL is a "hot" color. (actually)
Last edited by Richard Raichert; Aug 6, 2015 at 07:41 AM. Reason: whatever
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 4,147
Likes: 452
From: Port St. Lucie West Florida
With your Dewitt radiator you have done all you can really do as you say your fans are running all the time with the A/C on. What temps do you run on rare occasion that you do not need the A/C on? (Digital gauge) My 94 has std radiator/180 stat and is ok in our FL temps although when the temp gets up near the 228 degree mark (fan kick in temp), it can get a little "toasty" in the cockpit! I have thought about the Dewitt radiator and hence the temp question.
Your car looks like a clone of mine except for wheels! Black in FL is a "hot" color. (actually)
Your car looks like a clone of mine except for wheels! Black in FL is a "hot" color. (actually)
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 4,147
Likes: 452
From: Port St. Lucie West Florida
Thank you as I was not 100% sure because the fans are in on all of the time. People claim when they reprogram the fans to come on earlier and use a 160 stat the car runs cooler
Last edited by enventr; Aug 6, 2015 at 09:14 AM.
Le Mans Master
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From: Clifton Park, NY ............Clearwater, FL ... 85 Original Owner
Burning Brakes
Joined: Apr 2012
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From: Ridgecrest Ca
When you use the a/c the fans run all the time no matter what the engine temp is. Really the engineers weren't stupid. The cooling fans are scheduled to come on ~228 degrees because that's the optimum operating temp for the engine. Running at 180 is too cool and above 245 or so is too hot. You can accurately check the temp by selecting the correct selection on the HVAC panel to see the digital temp. You just have to convert that number from Celsius to Fahrenheit. The analog gage isn't reliable.
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Heel & Toe
Joined: Jul 2015
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Change Thermostat ?
All make a good point but with a 160deg you can take the risk of condensation is your oil. My 96 lt1 runs stronger when car is 195 to 210. With a 180 temp I run you can set the fans to come on at 215 and I never see more than 220 in heavy traffic.this is without AC on.i like me temps because anything hotter than 230 scares me cause alum heads warp at 245. Good luck stay safe.
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2001
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From: Athens AL
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If you spent less than 20-30 minutes in the car, it'll be cooler running than before. If you drive longer, the temps will catch up and equilibrate right where they are now with the DeWitts.
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 4,147
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From: Port St. Lucie West Florida
On average it does, because youre giving the cooling system a head start by opening the stat earlier.
If you spent less than 20-30 minutes in the car, it'll be cooler running than before. If you drive longer, the temps will catch up and equilibrate right where they are now with the DeWitts.
If you spent less than 20-30 minutes in the car, it'll be cooler running than before. If you drive longer, the temps will catch up and equilibrate right where they are now with the DeWitts.
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 4,147
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From: Port St. Lucie West Florida
If the weather is like Florida then the fans are on all of the time and you did not have to reprogram your fans. If you drive around for an hour the temps are probably the same as mine.
Team Owner
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From: Park City Utah
The cooling system should have more than enough capacity -especially for normal driving.
Team Owner
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From: Park City Utah
There IS no "optimum" temp (especially down to 1*F). There is a wide range that is desirable for many reasons.....many of which we don't care about, but OEM's do.
Team Owner
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From: Park City Utah
How have you determined that? I hope you didn't use the SOTP meter...
Say WHAT!? Where did you come up w/that fun-fact? 245*F is "the number, huh? I don't think that is true. Heads (aluminum or Iron) can and do warp and lower temps, and they can and do also provide useful service having been subject to much higher temps as well. Again, there is no "magic number" the head warpage occurs at.
Team Owner
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From: Park City Utah
As I said above, the cooling capacity of any car should significantly exceed that of the heat generated by the engine in normal driving....and in reality, that is true. This is even more true, when we have changed our radiator to one with 1.5 x more cooling capacity. In that case, lowering the T-stat temp should drive down operating temps, provided there is airflow over the radiator (AC on/fans running, OR cruising at speed).
Last edited by Tom400CFI; Aug 7, 2015 at 12:30 PM.
Heel & Toe
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Tom is smarter than everyone else.
You are rude and thinks he's better educated than others. My fans turn on at 215 because I had it programmed to that setting. Or is that something else I don't know what I'm talking about I guess.
Team Owner
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From: Athens AL
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Guys. It doesn't take 20-30 minutes to warm the car to stat opening temps. It takes less than 10 minutes. After that, either the stat is managing coolant temps OR, the cooling capacity vs. heat generated. It has nothing to do w/20 minutes, or 30 minutes, or what ever minutes.
When I ran with a 195, the car immediately goes to 195. At that point it will continue to heat up and usually pretty quickly to fan temp with the stock radiator, which I do not believe is enough given the lack of airflow over it.
When I ran with a 160, the car immediately went to 160, and then more slowly upwards, so the fans would never get to a temp to start before I got anywhere, so I would tell you the engine is on average running cooler. All I've done is given the poor C4 cooling capacity a head start.
If I ran 30 miles down the road it will end up at the same temps no matter what stat I run.
Team Owner
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From: Park City Utah