Replaced the factory thermostat last night with a 180 degree thermostat from Stant. Before on the Hwy car would run 190 degrees. Took the car out on the hwy last night set the cruise at 65 and the temps stayed between 194 and 196. Need some advise on why it's now running hotter with a cooler thermostat. If there is an air pocket in the cooling system, how do you go about fixing it?

 

Put a 160 in mine with the fans set lower and on a mid 90 degree day I'll run 178-180 on the highway and 190-205 in traffic and I have a DeWitts Radiator too. I've seen lower temps posted by others but not sure of the reliability claims. And yes the air condenser and radiator are free from debris and completely sealed. It all has to do with the outside ambient Temperature.
hope that helps. BTW I tried a 180 first too and thats why I went to a 160

 

You have to set the fans to come on sooner.

 

On the freeway, the fan settings should not come into play, unless ambient air temp is really up there. I believe the fans shut off over 50 mph, and A/C off.
Ed

 

I put a 178 in mine...but ya know, I don't monitor the water temp. My DIC is always set to oil temp. You really don't want it to run toooo cool either. I'll have to check it the next time I drive it (probably Fri. night or Sat.)

Hi Ed...fancy meeting you here.

 

 

OK guys what do I do. Replaced the stock 195 thermostat with a 180 thermostat and have not seen a difference. Car still runs between 190 and 194 mainly, weather has cooled off a bit. Up to this point replacing the stock themostat with a 180 was a waste of time. Why not just lower the temps the fans come on and leave the stock thermostat in place. Is a 160 thermostat too cool for our engines. I live in North Carolina, car is a daily driver and it does get cold in the winter time so I would like some heat in the winter months.

 

The stock thermostat is not 195. I think it actually specs out at 187 or something odd like that. If your cooling system is functioning properly you should see 190-192 while cruising on the highway with the stock thermostat.

Every 180 thermostat I have seen has been worthless. What you experienced is typical. The 180 thermostats run hotter than stock.

If you want to run cooler go with the 160 thermostat. Every one of these that I have seen runs between 178 and 180 on the highway. This is what mine runs summer (100 degrees air temp) and winter (10 degrees air temp). The heater works great in the winter.

 

I just put in a 178 degree t-stat that I bought from WCC. Got to drive it yesterday and it hardly seemed to do anything. It did take longer to reach 190 degrees (before, within 5 minutes, I was already in the 190's) but once I got stuck in traffic, it made no difference (200-220 degree temps). Since all the t-stat does in open up at a certain temperature, if you're stuck in traffic or its really hot outside, the only thing that can cool things down are the fans kicking in at a lower setting. I have to get my tuner to do this now that I have a lower t-stat, that should keep my vette where I want it to be, yet it should keep it warm in the winter. I drive my vette year-round (as long as there's no snow) and I've driven it in 10 degree weather. That's why I went with the 178 degree tstat instead of the 160 since I figured in the winter, at cruising speed, the engine temps will basically hold near to whatever the t-stat opens at and 160 seems a bit too low.

 

Is this the Vinci thermostat? Thanks!
Ed

 

I run the 178 and have the fans programmed to work with the lower temp and usually sit at 184 to 188 in traffic (use to be 210+) and on the hwy at 80mph I see between 178 to 182. I NEVER see my water temp above 200. Oil temp is usually 210, higher if I have been on the throttle.

 

Not sure, its on West coast corvette's website but it doesn't say the manufacturer. It also didn't say on the packaging.

 

I went through three t-stats until I finally installed a Stant, (I thnk it was a 178 or something odd like that). Throughout the whole thing no one at Corvette Mike or anyone else ever told me to check for debris lodged way up high on the front of the radiator, (no one until a forum member clued me in). After the Stant and a good cleaning I'm running at about 180-185*, 190* is hot heavy traffic. I was amazed at how much crap had lodged in tight up there, (2004 C5 daily driver). I've also been complaining on the forum recently about gearing, shifting, programing problems... Thank to CF feedback, and a good tuner who knew what he was doing everything is now setup and running perfectly! Thanks CF!!

 

What is each fan programmed for? Thanks!
Ed

 

Fans are set to:
Fan 1 on : 188
Fan 1 off : 182
Fan 2 on : 196
Fan 2 off : 189

Drove home today in stop and go traffic, water temp never went above 188 and oil hovered at 212.
Outside temp on the display readout was 106, news reported 96.

 

I just got back from a 22 mile round trip with an hour stopover.
11 mile homeward leg has 4 miles of highway miles sandwiched between suburb. Ambient temp 70 degrees (beautiful night...top off...Moody Blues CD playin'...life is good) ...178 T-stat.

I pulled into my garage with water temp. 185...oil temp. 180.

 

VetteDawg,
Don't you think you might be running a bit low on the oil temp? Ideally, 220 degress is hot enough to boil the condensation (water) from the oil improving its life and efficiency. Just a thought.

R/
Dustin

 

Ideally????
water will evaporate at any temperature above the dew point... no need to boil water for it to evaporate.
cars have been running at 160 F ad 180 F for many decades and never see temps in the 200 F range

Ideally you should not offer advise about things you don't know nothing about

 

"water will evaporate at any temperature above the dew point"

Doesn't that depend on the altitude and saturated vapor pressure? Just asking.

 

this has been covered sooo many times I can't believe we're still missing the point.
ONCE IT OPENS A THERMOSTAT HAS NO CONTROL OVER THE ENGINE OPERATING TEMPERATURE.
Just think about it - if you COMPLETELY REMOVE YOUR THERMOSTAT then, effectively, you'd have a 0 degree thermostate - would you then be surprised if you couldn't start up your car and run it at zero degrees ? Well, you SHOULDN'T be surprised. So when you put a 160 or 180 thermostat in you shouldn't be suprised if your operating temps stay the same.
Once the thermostat OPENS the basic geometry of the engine, flow characteristics of the coolant path, air flow , fan speeds and turn on/off temperatures, coolant to water ratio, inside diameter of the coolant hoses and water pump efficiency, among other things, but NOT the thermostate, are the things that determine engine operating temps.
Don't believe it ? OK, dump all your coolant, flush and refill the system with PURE WATER, leave everything else the same. Money says your temps go down with the same thermostat.
The rated terperature of a thermstat determines the TEMPERATURE AT WHICH THE THERMOSTAT FULLY OPENS - NOT THE OPERATING TEMP OF THE ENGINE. Once the thermostat reaches it's rated temperature, assuming it's operating properly, and reaches a fully open condition it is effectively out of the cooling equation. From that point on all those OTHER factors determine operating temp - NOT the thermostat..