I had a 160 put in and reprogrammed, but my fans don't turn on. I run around 180 to 190 all the time. What's up with the fans ???

 

I noticed I was able to do more back to back pulls without my car going above 200*(heat soaking imo) after I changed to a 160tstat when I tuned my car for it. Plus my tuner told me you can usually get more timing out of ur tune with one.
But on stock tune I didn't see any difference really to be honest except cruising on the highway

 

 

Your fans don't need to turn on when your car is so cool

 

 

I never met Chuck Cow, but I do agree with him on the subject of the benefits of running 160* stats. I've been using them for over 40 years, [ yep I even put one in my dinosaur ] , they do improve performance and allow more aggressive timing particularly when your octane choices are limited . I read a lot of theory from the nay sayers , but if you actually try a 160 *, document your findings, you will be enlightened . Incidentally, Chuck Cow , myself , Calloway , SLP , Ligenfelter , et al , to name a few , have been enlightened .

 

WOW! Didn't mean for this to turn into a major blow-out!! I've read it all and have made my decision, thank you all. Going with the 160 (ordered) and Chuck's tunes eventually.
Chuck is THE MAN I believe in his proven history.

Thanks again everybody ............ Bruce

 

Bruce just some info....

This can be done in 30 minutes or less. I did mine tonight, it is simple. Here was my procedure:

-Get front end jacked up and car secured on stands.
-Remove radiator cap from drivers side coolant reservoir
-From passenger side of lower radiator open petcock with drain pan under it
-allow time to drain most of coolant
-Take a thick outside yard bag and I cut one of the corners out of it and make a small catch bag, I put this under the thermostat housing to catch the fluid that comes out
-Remove the 2-10mm bolts that hold the thermostat housing on and change out the thermostat with the new one.
-Close the drain petcock
-remove the catch bag and drain into your pan
-Lower car down on ground and fill coolant reservoir
-Start the car up and start adding fluid while the car runs
-Let run until thermostat opens, then keep adding fluid. You should be able to add all of your fluid back in without having to add any new to the system unless you are changing your fluid out.
-I ran mine until the cooling fans came on, then added all of the last 1/4 gallon of fluid. Temps were at 220° and dropped down to 195° almost as soon as I was done filling the system up.

That was it, painless and no burping needed. I have done all of my LSx cars this way over the years. If you fill the system while the car is running and allow it to get hot enough the air will evac out of the system while the cap is off.

Now the results, mind you I have already changed the stock calibration on my car. Stock the car would run around 200°-210° most all of the time. Tonight on the test drive I was seeing 170°-185° while driving with temps creeping up to 190° while sitting.

Easy mod, helps with power and I am looking forward to seeing what the dyno numbers show next month.

Also I plan on testing the old myth of stock Donaldson air filter and Attack Blue next month as well. So hopefully with some back to back dyno runs we will see if there are any gains to be had.

 

You guys have me convinced (and a certain vendor says he'll give me free stuff to say this).

I'm installing a 140* thermostat. Powa will be through the RUFE!! Man, you guys will be SO jealous!

 

ditto.......and a reprogram is just a money maker.....you don't need it......the fans don't run when blasting down the road............

 

Wa, wa, wa, wait..are you saying "some" sell this incredible horsepower making device just so they can up sale people on an expensive warranty killing tune??

 

AB.........sorry to burst your bubble, but it's not a HP making device. I think you read more into my post. The car will run somewhat cooler (5-10 degrees), but a retune for the FANS is not necessary...........

..........unsubscribed!

 

Exactly, no one said you would make more power as in like adding headers. You will make more consistant power as the ECM will not retard timing because of coolant temps.

Also as said you dont have to tune the fans to come on sooner, but you may have to turn the SES code (P0128) to either no report or off. If the ECM does not see 167° with in so many drive cycles then it will trigger the SES light which will put a gauge cluster symbol on the dash and turn the coolant gauge off until the code is reset. This is more prone to happen in really cold climates if you drive in them. My C6 doesnt get out in the wet, icy, cold stuff so I doubt it will even cause an issue.

Tuning the fans will help with them coming on sooner instead of letting the car get to the normal set point.

Here is the stock fan temp map attached, as you can see the ECM does not turn the fan on until 199° and only then provides 15% of total fan speed to cool with. The ECM never even goes to 100% even on the stock calibration, heck it doesnt even ramp the fan speed to 90% until 225° is hit.

So with that, put one or dont. Doesnt matter either way, I did on mine. Car runs cooler and still well above the 160° stat opening point and I know I wont have to worry about detonation issues down the road when it gets really hot outside.

 

Lol....I think you missed what he was saying.

 

change to a 160 stat if you are doing a tune.

If not doing a tune I don't see the advantage.

 

Wicked what exactly does a tune have to do with putting in a 160° stat? Are you saying a stock motor and tune will see no benefit to running cooler and not sitting in the 200° range all of the time????

 

Wicked is saying, that until you adjust the fans to come on sooner, it will not do you much good. Normally when you get it tuned....this will be done.
You will see a little difference when you are cruzing on the freeway, but not in stop and go traffic until you adjust the fans.

 

you cant really tell the fans to come on sooner though, that worked in the LS1 days of ECM when they used on/off set points for each fan. Since the LS2/LS3 came out and GM moved to a Pulse Width Modulated fan controller which uses percentages of fan speed the minimum speed on the stock OS you can demand the fan to turn on is 192°, BUT if you do that the fans come on at key on.

196° is the lowest you can start to command the fans to come on without them coming on at key on.

you will still lower operatings temps with no changes the fan calibration. Normally with the stock stat on my drive in I would see 195-210° temps with the stock 187° stat, as of this morning in the same type of weather i was seeing 170-180° with the 160° stat, idle temps got up to 190ish while waiting for a light.

So on average with the stock 187° stat you would expect another 10-20° of temps on top of the stat opeing point which is right where the stock stat normally runs.

 

As long as my car has airflow, engine temp hovers between 189-196F with the stock thermo. With the fan switch, I can let it idle all day and it won't get any higher than that, and that's using the "Lo" fan setting. It also has a "Hi" setting, which will bring down engine temps FAST, but obviously, you shouldn't run it on Hi for an extended time, unless you modify the fan connector.

 

i've never had any problems with the cars i had/have run 160 stats in except the Jeep Cherokee
thats because of the really small radiator and AC condensor
going to a 180 and 195 stat was much better. or i should say more stable
the theory with smaller rads is to run them sort of on the hot side, so with a hi temp stat the water stays in the rad longer to cool off
hence the reason many of the XJ's would still run very hot or overheat with lower stats. trust me, my irish stubborness learned that the hard way

with my wifes 05 vette, we have the 160 and no problems
My TA now, i just run a balanced sleeved 180 stat, i want to keep the temps up in the combustion chamber this time, but i also have a BIG aluminum radiator too, so didn't want to run too cool (it's a carb setup)

with my other vehicles i am a fan of the balanced sleeve stats that open with the flow
which is the same type you need with the meziere electric water pumps