What will happen if you let you coolant run at all temps?? Will this mess anything up when you warm your car up or will it run to cool and mess up the motor??

 

It will most likely run waytoo cool to operate efficiently and may not even go into closed loop. You will get a DTC for engine not getting to operating temp in the required time period. If your in a cool area, you will sludge up your oil as the oil temp will be too low.

 

I've had friends do it for years without any issues (that I know of). The engine will take longer to heat up in the winter. Of course, that's probably not a concern for someone in San Jose.

 

What people did years ago with carburetor cars cannot always be applied to modern fuel injected cars, especially cars driven primarily on the street...

 

Even in a carb motor you should run a restrictor plate instead of just leaving out the stat. I think the plate in my Hot Rod motor is a 3/4" or 1" hole. That way the flow is the correct speed. Leaving the stat out and not having a restrictor plate can let the coolant move to fast thru the rad and it will not have the time to remove the heat from the coolant.

 

 

It is probably okay as a short term solution (i.e. I need the car but it will be a couple days before I can fix it), but I wouldn't make it a permanent change for many of the reasons listed above.

 

For what it's worth, the friends I mentioned above own LT1 and LS1 equipped vehicles.

 

I( dont know what kind of a tech you are , Maybe a computer tech...??? But these motors require very specific temps.. telling someone to not run a stat in an LsX engine is like telling you buddies who probably are not techs either...that changing their oil every 10,000 miles is OK because it says 10,000 mile oil on the label. they may have heard its OK from their grandfather who drove a 55 Buick back in the day.. let me tell you running this car too far out of the sweet spot will cause this car to loose its longevity caused by thermal breakdown because of sheer... oil will not be viscus and loss of top end lubricity... this motor need to see 210 oil temps and 190 200 coolant... there is a reason we put a high temp stat in the car,,,, take that no stat car out on a cool 50F degree night and your oil wont see 140 F... doing that sustained for several hours will take several years off the motor.. its is better to run hotter than it is to run colder. There are always a couple of guys who are determined to give really bad advice, of course they dont know that, they would be better off taking their grandfather to Olive garden than to offer up his advice here.

Lots of urban legend and bad info found here still, after ten years, it actually seems to be getting worse. Becareful who you listen too here
many are clueless, but there are also many many great and technical folks here.

 

 

*Sigh*

Allow me to repeat what I said before. I know several people who have been doing it for years without any problems. Please tell me that the information I provided is inaccurate. I answered with factual information and take offense to your insinuation.

This is a message forum. It's a place for like-minded people to share information and experiences. I shared an experience and, even if you have experiences to the contrary, there is no need for you to be condescending. I repeated no urban legend, nor given any information based upon 1950s technology.

 

Running with out a thermostat can cause your engine to run too cool when the ambient temperature is cool and too warm when in traffic or a high ambient temperature. The reasons of the engine running too cool are obvious, but the reason for running too warm is that the coolant is moving through the radiator too quickly to transfer the heat from the coolant to the air. If you are trying to run cooler coolant temps, keep radiator free form debris and clean and use a 160* thermostat and adjust your cooling fan on and off settings.
Good Luck
Andy

 

I have alittle insider information for you Mr Web developer I take your technical advice here the engine will take longer to warm up????... It will not warm up without a stat in the winter it need to get to 200 210 oil temp . Even with a 160 stat in the car it will see 160 on a a 50 F night, even in the summer. I know a few things about this car..where as you got your information from a couple a guys that may work at Walmart.. and you take their advice.,. IM not beating on you or picking on you , Im jyust saying your advice is not in the best interest af anyone owning an LSX engine. You apparently come to this forum clueless and you want to offer it to other who think everyone who comes here is an expert. Which obviously is not the case.There is a very spacific reason we put that 190 stat in the car.

 

Yet another attack. Somehow my career choice indicates my competency to relay information? Perhaps only people who have worked in powertrain development should provide any sort of commentary on posts in C5 Tech?

I clearly stated that I repeated information based upon the experiences of other people. Nowhere have I disputed anything you said. Yet, you continue to harp as if I said that thermostats are a waste of money and everyone should remove them.

You are ignorant and arrogant to make assumptions about people so quickly. I didn't beat my chest and shout that I'm an expert on the subject. In most cases... it's those people who you should be most concerned with on the Internet.

 

I don't get why people think they know better than the GM engineers who designed the car.

FYI, ALL the top racing teams in the various series are running their engines is excess of 200F, some well in excess, to get the most power from them. You won't gain power by lowering the temps and you just hurt the longevity of the engine.

Tech - Evil Twin was on the design team that built the C5. You can keep arguing, but the people in the know are already ignoring you. Besides, just because your friends do it doesn't mean anything unless they have driven their cars 200,00+ miles that way.

Notice the "we" in his response - "there is a reason we put a high temp stat in the car."

Yet another urban car myth. Absolutely no truth to this one. Using that backwards logic, the car should cool even better still if you just block that thermostat port right off so there is no flow...

Peter

 

Yet another person who clearly doesn't understand the purpose of a thermostat in an automobile....

 

Do you have any technical background to base this on. Like an engineering degree. You can force more air through the rad if it's not cooling the engine enough. Why would that not work with the coolant too? Why do performance companies sell high flow water pumps? More flow will cool more. Anyone who doesn't get that needs to learn something about thermodynamics before posting their opinion - try engineering school. It's amazing how people with no technical background will argue how low flow is better every time the topic comes up. It's a big car myth.

The restrictor is sold so you can get the engine to actually run a little warmer than it would wide open. It can also be used to produce a little pressure in the block so that the coolant doesn't evaporate in the engine hot spots and not cool as well. That's got nothing to do with lowering the flow so the engine cools better.

The thermostat is to quickly get the engine up to operating temperature and then regulate the temperature once it's reached.

Peter

 

Okay the problem is that my oil temp and coolant temp are always differant by a lot. When i warm it up the coolant warms up a lot faster. The coolant will already be at 180 but my oil hasnt even got to a 100. And then on a hot day like today my oil says its 214 and coolant 220 sometimes even 230, but then the fans cool it down a little more. What should i do??

 

Peter, I'm aware that Evil-Twin was involved with the C5. Did you carefully read my posts? I made one statement and one follow up to clarify the first. My further replies were a response to his demeanor and rude remarks made toward me. I have not argued with Evil-Twin unless you consider us arguing about whether he was personally attacking me.

 

Don't do anything. That's normal and the way it was designed.

The engine heat is mostly at the top of the cylinders and heads which are surrounded by the coolant so it will heat up first. No big deal.

If you don't trust the GM engineers and decide you just must have lower temps then install a 160 or 180 stat and have the fans tuned for a lower temp to match. Heck, you can even just tighten up the fan temps on the stock stat too to keep the temperature more consistant. Reaching the operating temperature quickly is better for the engine.

Peter