Guys, I have seen post not recommending the 160 degree stat. I had a GM tech neighbor who recommended the 160 to me years ago and I have been running it ever since. His reasoning was cooler engine faster car. I read a thread that said that the higher temps burn off emmissions and remove condensation and basically say that higher temps are ok. I assumed higher temps are not good and rarely ever let my car get over 190 as I only drive it when its cool. I am assuming this is best for my engine and want the car to be maintianed with minimum expenses. Is my thinking incorrect?

 

Oh yeah.

 

Sigh

 

 

Yes your thinking is incorrect as is your mechanic neighbor. While cooler inlet air does increase its density and aids HP generation, what wasn't thought of was the heat loss through the cylinder walls into the coolant. Engines are HEAT engines, its the high temperature of the burning fuel/air inside the cylinder that makes HP and if you transfer heat out of the cylinder, you lower temperature and HP and this is much more effective at reducing HP than the cooler inlet air is at increasing HP. Inlet air can only be cooled where the air is in contact with the intake manifold and that amount of air is miniscule. Most of the air traveling inside the intake is not in contact with the intake walls. Also, except in the winter, a 160 stat will be wide open and does absolutely nothing to reduce your coolant temperature in summer temperatures. Your cooling system is running uncontrolled. Look at your temperature gauge, is it 160? Of course it isn't, your radiator isn't big enough to allow the thermostat to control the coolant temperature. You bought and installed a thermostat that doesn't do squat for your intended purpose. You wasted your time effort and money. Are you more educated than the GM engineers that picked the 195 stat? Did you do extensive engine stand and road testing to verify that a 160 stat is best for your engine like the GM engineers did to come to the conclusion that it should be 195? Are you a thermodynamicist with a college degree?
For the life of me I cannot understand why people MUST have their engine running at some low temperature. 160 takes a long time to evaporate water that occurs normally in the crankcase oil and oil/water/dirt makes sludge, you really are hurting your engine running it at low temperature (if you really are, I doubt you are). Engine oil provides higher lubricity and more wear protection at higher temperatures than at low temperatures, another reason why GM tells you in your owners manual to use 5W30 oil. Thicker oil (from lower engine temps) causes HP loss from higher bearing friction, although I'll admit it isn't much.
GM says to shut the engine off at 260 F and let it cool down, and I think they offer this advice because 50% antifreeze at 15 psi (rad cap pressure) boils at 265 F and boiling will cause loss of coolant and dangerously high head temperatures if you keep driving your car.
I own an 87 vette with 232k miles on it and drive it every day, it has always had and has a OEM 195 thermostat in it and on hot summer days sitting at stoplights, the coolant temp rises to about 200-205 and drops when I get underway to around 190. As a test, the last time my mechanic did cooling system work (orig radiator split) it was summer and we let the engine idle. It would go to 228 F, the main fan would come on, temp would drop to 210 F and the fan would go off and then it would repeat. 228 F is an absolute nothing to internal combustion engines with liquid cooling, even 260 F is a nothing. There isn't anything in the engine that is harmed by the engine running at 228 F, or even 260 F. My 87 has the auxilliary fan which comes on at 238 F and for the 20 years I have been driving it, that fan has never come on.
You need to stop being a worry wart about your engine temperature and also stop being a self appointed cooling sytem, "Expert", and make use of the much smarter GM engineers and run your cooling system like they designed it. I have been driving my 87 Corvette for 20 years, every day, in every kind of weather and temperature, I have the original engine and use the OEM 195 thermostat and I haven't had any cooling sytem problems with the exception of some cooling system leaks (not temperature related) and the original radiator which split open and had to be replaced.
Its your car, you can run it with any thermostat you want, you can believe anything you want to about what temperature the coolant should be running at, but you asked for opinions, and you got mine. You may not like it, but you did ask for it. Do anything you want, and I will too. I have owned 4 vettes, drove them every day and I always ran them as they were designed and I had no trouble with any of their cooling systems. Best of luck to you.

 

^^damn! lemme get my reading glasses

*Edit*

OK after reading that.....

JFB is right as far as maintaining your cooling system properly versus putting silly mods on it.

And a "Cold Air Intake" (which your car already has) has nothing to do with engine running temps. A cooler running motor is not the same thing as getting a denser air mixture.

Understand JFBs frustration is over the TONS of advice over snake oil modifications.

 

Damn is someone having a bad day? I will rephrase the question. Should I make sure my car runs above 220 degrees some of the time to burn off emissions and condensation? Will allowing the engine not to reach higher temps cause probs with cats or is this just done by manufacturer to get thru emissions testing?

 

Make sure it runs above 220 some of the time? Thats totally crazy. I never see 220, and my highest temperatures occur at stoplights in the summer, but I haven't been stuck long enough to ever see 220 F. Letting my car idle in the summer after a radiator replacement, my mechanic and I wanted to see if the protection designed into my 87 worked. The protection is the ECM programming that turns the main fan on at 228 F and turns it off at 210 F and that is what we observed. A thermostatic switch turns on the auxilliary fan at 238 F, but I've never seen 238 F. My engine ran normally at 228 F if that is what you are asking about.
Oh, no I'm not having a bad day, I just like to straighten out wrong think of those that think a 160 stat will allow their engine to run cooler (in summer), it won't.