Mishimoto Thermostat Question
#41
Instructor
Thread Starter
Yeah, it could have been a whole different situation. We took a road trip back in May and went 5800 miles in 15 days (TN to Cali and back). I was thinking how bad it would have sucked if my car had overheated between El Paso and San Antonio on Hwy.10...not much out there in west Texas! I am going to go ahead and get that billet housing from BTR- he does have a great price on it- and get the 174 LS3 thermostat. I think the 174 is a better temp for sure. I wish I had done that up front. I feel like I kinda wasted $48.00 on the Mishimoto. The LMR billet housing was the only one I had seen- and it was so expensive- I wanted to try something else first. Thanks for letting me know about BTR.
#43
Melting Slicks
Member Since: Mar 2007
Location: Santa Barbara CA
Posts: 2,391
Likes: 0
Received 23 Likes
on
23 Posts
Yeah, it could have been a whole different situation. We took a road trip back in May and went 5800 miles in 15 days (TN to Cali and back). I was thinking how bad it would have sucked if my car had overheated between El Paso and San Antonio on Hwy.10...not much out there in west Texas! I am going to go ahead and get that billet housing from BTR- he does have a great price on it- and get the 174 LS3 thermostat. I think the 174 is a better temp for sure. I wish I had done that up front. I feel like I kinda wasted $48.00 on the Mishimoto. The LMR billet housing was the only one I had seen- and it was so expensive- I wanted to try something else first. Thanks for letting me know about BTR.
like one of the big benefits of running an LS3 style thermostat is that you should be able to get almost anywhere.
Last edited by Streetk14; 08-12-2018 at 08:14 PM.
#44
Melting Slicks
Member Since: Mar 2007
Location: Santa Barbara CA
Posts: 2,391
Likes: 0
Received 23 Likes
on
23 Posts
You’re not going to get the full benefits without altering the fan tables though.
#45
Instructor
Thread Starter
I would think that you could run the 174 without a tune. Most people tune (with respect to the cooler thermostat) to get the fan to come on earlier. Many people on this forum have said the 160 is to cool -and causes some CEL and even limp mode occurrences. I've not heard of any issues like that with a 174 or 180. I run a 160 now and haven't had any issues that would require a tune. I do live in an area that is quite warm, especially in summer. Also, the LS3 stat is a drop in on LS3 cars obviously, but requires a custom billet housing if you have a 2014 up. I plan to change to the billet housing and LS3 174, more for the better reliability, plus the 174 temp just seems to be the "sweet spot" for the engine temp, in my opinion. I hope that helps you.
#46
Instructor
Thread Starter
I had the Mishimoto in for a month or so, but had only been driving in town. I went for a short drive on the freeway and about 30 minutes into a 1 hour drive, my A/C quit, temp gauge dropped to 100, AFM stopped also. Got stopped at where I was going and the fan stayed on high for a while after shutoff. Luckily, didn't run battery down. So I got home and the codes were for engine operating below threshold or whatever it said. Evidently, the Mishimoto 160 is to cold even for my area!!! It was 89 degrees at noon today! I wish that when a company sales a product that causes you're car to malfunction, they would at least have a disclaimer saying what could possibly happen. I had an extra thermostat assembly that I had ordered (194 degree for a 15 up), so I slapped it in real quick. It was a pain to clear the codes with my hand held for some reason? Had to run through the steps 4-5 times before CEL went away. Car is running about 210 now, which is maybe just a little cooler than the original 2014 (207 degree) assembly ran. I am definitely going to get the housing from BTR and LS3 stat. I just hope the 174 isn't to cool! Streetk14 make sure to give us an update on your setup. I'm not sure how that 160 doesn't cause the limp mode on your car? The high today was 94 here. That should be plenty warm enough, but my car still messed up with the 160 in it.