who still uses a thermostat?

[ap2002]

who here still uses thermostats on there motors? i know a long time ago when my dad always took off the thermostats on his engines, he said ever since he broke down on the highway 300miles away from home, he just takes them off on the older vehicles... he never had issues without one... so what are the pro's and con's of NOT running a thermostat...

by the way i would imagine you guys up north need them but us in the south dont really....

[fine69]

A thermostat regulates how much and fast your coolant runs through your system.

If you don't run one you will more often than not overheat.

I always run one.

[Longhorn Man]

you need one regardles of where you are.
The thermostat gets you to a certian temperature, and then keeps you there. Without it, your'll run too cool, and then too hot.
It's a very bad idea to remove one. If they weren't needed, they wouldn't be spending money on them since the dawn of the water cooled engine. GM will do what ever they can to save a nickle... that woulda been axed years ago if not needed.

There are absolutly no pros to removing it for street use.

[Sport/Truck]

X3
I think it helps with the over all efficiency of your motor. On short trips it will allow it to fully warm up, otherwise you could build up condensation in your motor.
IMO you should use one. If you have cooling issues removing a t-stat is only a band-aid fix.
s/t

[Skirkpat]

as stated it is a necessary item, as is a temperature guage. Check and balance...if the thermostat malfunctions, your temp guage will tell you it is time to pull over and turn off the engine.

[kgt]

Always run a t-stat on a machine that see's street use. Remember that a t-stat controls min operating temp. You need one to slow the coolant flow down to allow the rad time to extract the heat from the coolant as well. There is no reason on a properly set up cooling system to run without a stat.

[Dark Knight]

Your best bet is to buy a "Fail Safe" thermostat from your local parts store. If it happens to fail, it will fail in the open position, allowing coolant to circulate. Or you can go to Summit Racing and buy one of their high-flow thermostats if you have cooling problems.

[ap2002]

no cooling issue, just wondering about it since my dad used to do it back in the day...

i know for the new generations the sale an aftermarket thermostat like a 160 and a 180 degree one... are there options like these on the BBC?

[Jim_PA]

That old gag, eh?

The 160-180 T-stat trick to fool the computer into thinking the engine is cold, so it needs more fuel.

Waste of time

[kgt]

Alot of stuff was done in the "day" some good, some not so good..lol...big and small block chevys use the same stat...as far as 160-180, i use a 180 in my 468 with dart heads, 714 lift cam and to much compression and it runs down the road at 170-180 and at idle in 100 deg summer heat will run up to 220, and stay there, it has a custom copper 4 core rad and 2 elec. fans.

[68gmsee]

Being raised in south Texas (Corpus Christi) where it rarely got below freezing in the winter, I knew a lot of people that ran without them -me included. Never had any problems. Of course this was back in the days before emission control stuff and computer cars.

About the only thing I can think that may have been affected would be the gas mileage. But back in the late 50's and 60's not too many people paid attention to that. Gas was cheap, cars got 8-12 mpg, and if you went 60K-80K on an engine without a major problem you did good.

[tim21391]

they arnt very expensive to get a new one..

[69halfton]

not a good idea to run without one on the street. in fact we even run on on our circle track cars up here! although its not functioning, we run a hollowed out one just to slow the water down a little bit. I've found that if it is wide open, and the water pump is turning really fast (the motor never sees the south side of 5000 RPM for a long time ) the water runs through the rad too fast and doesn't even get a chance to cool off.

also being in canada, we need a thermo to keep the engine warm in the pits, otherwise it would never warm up

[retselgerg]

get a stant superstat 180..make sure you dont buy a cheapo thermo...it will cost u down the road

[spinning wheels]

I live in So Cal. so warming up an engine in the morning is a rare thing. However, when the weather gets hot, if you are not running a thermostat, and your temp goes up. You will not be able to bring that temp down, with out pulling over and letting it sit for at least two hours. I have seen this happen on my friend's 69 Camaro with a small block. It got hot while driving around a hilly area during the summer, we had to pull over and let it cool down. Chances are, it would not have overheated if we were on the open road, at a steady pace.

If you don't trust thermostats, you can run the flow restrictors like they do in sprint cars.

69halfton, mentioned one method of flow restriction. Check out Speedwaymotors.com website. They sell these flow restictors as well as, some of the good thermostats.

[Camper Power]

those thermostats are in there for a reason, they didnt just through em in there cause everyone else was.

[special-K]

Does it rain in these places it never freezes?How does the defroster(think defogger) air get dried @ ambient tempurature.don`t your windows fog up?It doesn`t freeze for a large portion of the year up here and when I`ve removed my t-stat in a pinch it didn`t take long to miss it..Also,I run heat when it`s in the 50/60 range.I don`t know anywhere it doesn`t get that cool.
So,that was passenger comfort.About the engine.They are designed to run in a temperature range.The oil is also.Fuel temp to oil pressure are all effected by operating temp.Fuel efficiemncy will drop w/o a t-stat.a motor run w/o one will have more deposits built up in all fluid passages.

Why re-engineer a vehicle over one of the cheapest parts on it?It takes 10 minutes to switch.carry one in the glovebox if it`s a concern.As far as having a bad overhearing experience,as in detrimental,keep an eye on the gauge.That`s why they call the lights idiot lights.No offense to anyone,but that`s why we want gauges,right?Gauges are intended as a device to monitor problems before they ruin something.There are many other causes of overheating besides stuck shut thermostats.

[69GMCLonghorn]

Ok, so let me whoop a dead horse. If you're overheating with a thermostat installed, fix the overheating problem. Removing the T-stat is putting a band aid over the real problem, and it will come back to bite you eventually.

Growing up, my dad had a '69 Chevy 3/4 ton with a 307, no O/D. He still claims he got 19 - 20 at 70 MPH when it was new. I didn't know my dad smoked crack...

[big_al_71]

Always have a thermostat in every one of my motors.Everyone has covered the reasons why, no sense in my retyping them.
Trust me fix the overheating problem.

Radiator flush or replace, cooling fan clutch replace if using one, if electric fans make sure that it is big enough, check your fan shroud, fan blades, water pump check everything...good luck

[cdowns]

i had a flat tire once but i still use tires on the rims and thermostats in the engine too

[ap2002]

thanks for all the replys, i was just asking since he seemed to do it back in the day and never had issues? but everything does make sense, and yes, i know about carrying extra parts for sure, before i start driving often, i going to put a new waterpump, starter, thermostat, alternator, fuel pump and carry extra belt, that would make me feel more comfortable riding in it..

[GMC AMI]

Yeah I rushed this issue ONE time only and was racing a 72 402 BB Chevelle. Before I even got to the staging light the beast overheated due to no Thermo. It needs to slow down the fluid as stated so you do not overheat! It was 90 in the shade that day. It would have served me better to have placed a washer where the thermo goes in order to slow down the fluid.

[68gmsee]

Gotta rattle this can a little more.. Especially for those of you born after 1950...

First I gotta say, I use thermostats in all my cars now but when I was young I lived in the country and auto parts stores were long ways off. If your thermostat went bad, you removed it.

In those days before the mid 1960's or so, A/C, power steering, power brakes, automatics transmissions were not very common. Heck, in south Texas we never used anti-freeze (was it available?). I don't ever remember having any problems running without the thermostat other than it took longer to warm up in cold days.

Someone mentioned "defrost." Without a/c all we ever got was a foggy window. I just opened the vent window and used a cloth to wipe the fog so I could see.

[MagmaJct]

Why not just grab a textbook on engines? A text book can explain the purposes of a thermostat much better than I could. A good collection of text books, both general and for a specific vehicle, is a good thing for a mechanic to have.

You own an old vehicle? You are a mechanic, and you want to be the best mechanic for your vehicle.

[spinning wheels]

Originally Posted by MagmaJct

Why not just grab a textbook on engines? A text book can explain the purposes of a thermostat much better than I could. A good collection of text books, both general and for a specific vehicle, is a good thing for a mechanic to have.

You own an old vehicle? You are a mechanic, and you want to be the best mechanic for your vehicle.

If I buy the text books, do I have to read them?

Sorry I just couldn't resist that.

I agree, a good repair manual can be very helpful. It sure beats doing repairs under assumptions. But what ap2002 was asking is a valid question, as many old timers removed the thermostats because a friend of a friend had one fail and ruined an engine. We have all heard those stories. These stories probably go back to the Ford flathead days, as the flathead were notorious for overheating.

I think the removal of the themostat goes hand in hand with the roll of toilet paper in the oil filter canister, instead of a store bought oil filter element.