T Stat Question

Ok see i have not changed my tstat and just adjusted my fans i do not ever run over 203 even sitting dead summer in traffic...

irishrt5.7 wrote:

Ok see i have not changed my tstat and just adjusted my fans i do not ever run over 203 even sitting dead summer in traffic...

that will do it too, but you are overworking your fans now. that means your fans are exclusively keeping your car cool, you might want the thermo to keep the stress off them. if you get the thermo they won't have to kick on as much because you will be using your radiator and coolant to keep the car cool instead.

the fans are supposed to act as part of the system and kick on to higher speeds when your waterpump, thermo, radiator, and coolant can't keep up.

there is no added stress on the cooling system to just have the thermo open at a lower temp because those components are always running anyways. running the fans extra can burn them out eventually.

if the T-Stat is trying to hold 205 and the fan want's 180* they are fighting each other. Your T-Stat has to have a lower setting than the fan. The T-Stat brings the engine up to it's setting quickly and opens, the fan cycles on and off to maintain a set temp above the T-Stat. My 180 T-Stat opens real close to 180* and the E-fan has an on of ~195* off ~185*, works great for the last 2 years.

It seems the question is what temperature does the computer consider "normal running temp", if it thinks 180*+ is OK were good, but if it considers 180* cold then all the bad vibes described earlier will be going down. The old Dakotas, no problem, the newer LX electronic marvels I'm not so sure.

Good thread

would the 180 thermo effect the heating system during winter time? i had a 180 temp in my Monte Carlo and the car wouldn't keep blowing warm air into the cabin. so just wondering if this would be bad to have if you drive your car during the winter time??

5.7 my Dakota still gets plenty of heat with a 180 stat. It is less than with a 210* stat, but not enough to change it back. Your Monte was probably plugged up or having problems somehow to not heat with a 180 stat. If the manufacturer made the heater core to small it would need to have the high temp to work.
Bottom line, try it and if it don't work go back to what does.

Good luck and let us know what happens.
Cool engine and toasty keister in my Dak... DrPepper

DrPepper wrote:

5.7 my Dakota still gets plenty of heat with a 180 stat. It is less than with a 210* stat, but not enough to change it back. Your Monte was probably plugged up or having problems somehow to not heat with a 180 stat. If the manufacturer made the heater core to small it would need to have the high temp to work.
Bottom line, try it and if it don't work go back to what does.

Good luck and let us know what happens.
Cool engine and toasty keister in my Dak... DrPepper

He likely never flushed his cooling system, & heater core was clogged, Dex cool is good shit..... to bad it doesn't last 50K and sure as hell not 100k, they finally got a better mix of the stuff, the Pink stuff is where it's at.

Yes you have to lower the fans 20 to match tstat then she will run cooler maintaining power better!