Torx40

I just had my 94 lt1 thermostat replaced with a 180 degree unit... Same as the only me that was in there...The mechanic said there is a 160 unit available but he thought that might make it run to cold... I'm thinking there's no way a c4 can run too cold. Does anyone have experience with a 160 degree thermostat in this vehicle?
Any input on this would be helpful thanks

TorchTarga94

No it won't make it run too cool. I have one in my 94' along with the fans programmed to turn on a little earlier. Every little bit helps down here in the south.

JimLentz

I had a car, not a Corvette, that I changed to a 160 degree thermostat. The A/C worked better, but the heat not as well. If you are in a warmer climate that shouldn't be a concern.

SJW

I've been running a 160 in my '94 for years. Also lowered the fan on/off settings in the ECM. The car runs much cooler on hot days, and never too cold. A/C works fine, and plenty of heat on cold days. I would never make any changes to the way it is now set up.

Just be aware that the thermostat only sets the operating "floor" of the cooling system. If you want the car to idle at lower temps, you'll also need to re-program the fan settings to kick them on at a lower temperature.

Live well,

SJW

cv67

x2
if you do both like SJW said only then will it benefit you . In a warm climate its the way to go. If you get a lot of snow Id go 180

billschroeder5842

Can you share how to do that?

DGXR

Regardless of thermostat, at some point the cooling capacity of the system will be the limiting factor for how cool the engine runs. An open thermostat is an open thermostat and if the overall cooling system does not have additional cooling capacity, the thermostat won't matter.

If you want the engine to run cooler, keep the 180F thermostat, get an aftermarket radiator and reprogram the fans to turn on somewhere below 228F. Don't go crazy though. You don't want your fans running all the time and burning out.

Tom400CFI

This is 100% true and accurate.

However, most if not all cooling systems should have quite a bit more capacity than the car needs; it has to meet the criteria for places like Death Valley, the "Davis Dam grade", running WOT/high RPM on a track, etc. Now, compare those conditions with the conditions that most of us operate under; ~100*F or less, typically a 500 - 2500 RPM operating range (perhaps short bursts higher than that)...with all that in mind, there should be, and there is on a well maintained system quite a bit of extra capacity.

That is the reason why you see people posting that a cooler stat has helped them run cooler temps; the system has the capacity to drive the temps down toward or to, the lower stat's opening temp, under many or most conditions.

When you see posts where a lower stat didn't help, that is likely because that poster didn't have a well maintained cooling system, and they've lost capacity w/o knowing it. They blame the stat change for not helping, when in fact the cooling system is inefficient due to blockage, contamination, etc.