0Chuck CoW

AutoCal is on the WAY! He He....

Chuck CoW

okie08vette

Make sure you have a drip pan under the front of the car you will get antifreeze running out of the hose and out of the thermostat housing. Use a new gasket, as was previously stated, you will have to refill cooling system and as mention make sure you get the air out. Good luck, it's not hard to do.

simplegto

The gasket is part of the thermostat. No old style scrape and glue. It is a rubber lip around the outside.

HBsurfer

Don gave you the best advise here (even though you are not looking for advise). I will ad, make sure you know how to fill the radiator (no radiator cap like most other cars) and how to get air out of the system after you fill it. Easy to do but way harder than finding the housing.

Cherokee Nation

He should not have to burp it if the stat has the air release hole in it and installed correctly. Right? I never had to burp my....

Turbo6TA

Some advice on "Burping" the cooling system of air after changing out the thermostat:

I have never been able to burp the coolant system after changing the thermostat, but be aware of this ..... The system will slowly rid itself of trapped air. You will notice that you will need to re-fill the coolant tank a couple of times after the install. Just keep an eye on the tank for a couple of days of driving until you don't need to add anymore fluid.

okie08vette

Sweet I did not know that, thanks.

Turbo6TA

Another thing .... To take full advantage of the cooler 160 degree thermostat, the electric coolant fan really needs to be programmed via the PCM in order to increase it's on-time a little.

Just replacing the thermostat may be beneficial, but again, it [should] be done with a re-program of the cooling fan.

BadAV

The Avalanche has a 195* OEM stat but my results are the same as noted with a 160* stat.

Due to the MP112 Magnacharger I wanted to cool the temps down to help with IATs as much as possible. I also added Flex-A-Lite e-fans that start coming on at 190*. I never see coolant temps over 205*. The only negative that I have encountered with a 160* stat is that it takes much longer for the heater to get really hot in the winter. I've been running the 160* stat for 8 or 9 years now.

shane p

Its on the front of the water pump on passenger side, easy to do, leave the fill cap off the tank and let it start the car and let it warm up then put your cap on, wayback just a fyi a lot of thermostats where in the intake manifold they are not there anymore so they did move them.

wayback

Yes but weren't they still at the end of the radiator hose?

shane p

Ya they are, I just figured I would point that out because maybe the OP was looking at the intake manifold, although I think that they moved them when the gen 2 lt1 came in 1992 or something like that.

alanshore

Oh sweet! Thank you for this info!

Joe B.

When I put the 180* stat in mine in 2012, I also added a bottle of Water Wetter. The benefit may be marginal, but it didn't hurt.
The advice on refilling a couple times was right on.
IIRC the coolant tank cap can be a little tricky to remove.
The stat change, being down lower and vertical rather than staring you in the face and horizontal like the old SBC wasn't quite as simple, requiring a little more dexterity.

Cherokee Nation

On the C6 the bottom rad hose goes to the stat housing, on my many other cars the top rad hose goes to the stat housing??

shane p

I put a 160 in mine the car runs fine. GM knows what temp to use to get the best fuel mileage same with the tires and tune and a lot of other junk they use and put on for fuel mileage and epa junk they don't care about max horsepower. A thermostat is like a regulator it speeds up and slows down water flow to the radiator to try and keep it at a constant temp so a 160 deg tstat will try to keep water at 160 the cooling fans should be adjusted to come on according to tstat. That's my opinion anyway.

Not So Fast

I haven't changed a stat in so long (3 yrs ago 70 El Camino 454) that I went out and looked at the Vette when all this started, so where did I look, where they used to be so THANKS for the info, who would've known huh
NSF

Cherokee Nation

Shane: You can put in a 147 stat & it will still heat up, the tuner should not turn your fan on below 194 degrees because your fan will be running most of the time which will burn your fan motor out sooner or later. I will say it will be impossible to keep your coolant at 160 degrees. I used one of the best shops here in Texas for my work and the tuner does not recommend the 160 stat only the 180.If your coolant stays at 160 degrees then what will your engine oil and tranny oil be at?????

shane p

your right, that's why I said try, it wont be 160 but it will be cooler than the factory your limited by air flow, radiator size, water flow, coolant capacity, and so on. I have had many cars with 160 thermostats and they all ran cooler. when you are in stop in go traffic the fans will run alittle more but when your on the open road they shouldn't run because you have plenty off air flow, you can burn them or the wires up.

Cherokee Nation

Just for the hell of it I put a 160 in my 08 it still ran at the same temp in town 192 to 198 in the heat here in Texas. Come winter time I took it out & went back to the 180 to get my heater working sooner. The sweet point for the engine should be around 195 degrees, that has been said by top engine builders. I have not gone on the road for a few years so I can't say what the coolant runs at...