Does 187.5 average temp sound normal with a 180 degree thermostat? It fluctuates between 183-193 whether on the highway or sitting still in 82 degree weather.
Coolant temp question
- Thread starter mustangdaren
- Start date
Roland69
Sergeant Tangnet
how did you get a percise temp like that you must be running an aftermarket temp gauge. But yea sounds normal I wouldn't think a 180 stat would let the temp go much above 188 while driving. It's probly hard for them to make a t-stat that will be exactly ballz on to open right at 180*
Roland69
Sergeant Tangnet
bill302
Active Member
cool. I was just a little worried after changing fans. I haven't drove the car since early March and it was cooler out then so it ran 180 on the dot but the temps was in the low 60's
I agree that it's fine. It's hard to run below the stat rating, and as it warms up outside, anything under 200*F when ambient temps are up, is pretty good IMHO (speaking of elec fans, where one has the fan's t-stat set close to or above 190*F).mustangdaren said:
onefstsnake
New Member
I just picked up a Mr Gasket 180* Balanced Tstat.
Hopefully that will cool things down a bit.
Currently Im running a stock 195* tstat and on a warm day (75*) it runs anywhere from 195*-210*
Hopefully that will cool things down a bit.
Currently Im running a stock 195* tstat and on a warm day (75*) it runs anywhere from 195*-210*
Very nice choice of stat brand, IMHO.onefstsnake said:
Figure that you're dropping the stat opening temp 15-20* (some stats take a bit to open fully), so the temps should come down a noticable amount. I even noticed a difference in 110* ambient temps when going from a 180* parts store stat to a 180* Mr Gasket..........
BTW, a warm day is 110*F.
It was over 90* a couple days ago. Good luck.
I just changed out my stock 195 t-stat a month ago for a 180 also.
When I had that 195 in, my highway temps were 209 degrees. I could feel the power being robbed from the engine. The last coolant flush I had was 3 years ago or about 10,000 miles so I was due for a change also.
Anyways, I exchanged the t-stat to a 180, swapped out some old hoses to the rad for new ones, a new 16lb rad-cap, and a fresh coolant flush and now my highway temps and stop-and-go are around 185 max!!!! The car feels more peppy now also. I had some other maintenance things done to the car at the time too like a full tune-up, but this was by far the best decision I made for the year!!!!
Originally, running at 209, I thought I'd need a new radiator or my fan-clutch was going bad. Turns out the only thing hindering my performance was a 195 t-stat and a coolant flush.
Can someone explain to me why Ford originally installed all 5.0 V8's with a 195 t-stat???????????????? They suck!
When I had that 195 in, my highway temps were 209 degrees. I could feel the power being robbed from the engine. The last coolant flush I had was 3 years ago or about 10,000 miles so I was due for a change also.
Anyways, I exchanged the t-stat to a 180, swapped out some old hoses to the rad for new ones, a new 16lb rad-cap, and a fresh coolant flush and now my highway temps and stop-and-go are around 185 max!!!! The car feels more peppy now also. I had some other maintenance things done to the car at the time too like a full tune-up, but this was by far the best decision I made for the year!!!!
Originally, running at 209, I thought I'd need a new radiator or my fan-clutch was going bad. Turns out the only thing hindering my performance was a 195 t-stat and a coolant flush.
Can someone explain to me why Ford originally installed all 5.0 V8's with a 195 t-stat???????????????? They suck!
PonyBoy90 said:
Ford installed them for a couple of reasons, efficiency, power, emissions, engine durability.
Until you hit detonation from excessive temps, all of these things will improve with higher coolant temps.
Most likely the added "pep" you experienced was due to the general tune up. Replacing old plugs can make a big difference.
I would still like to see a dyno graph showing power gains with a 160 or 180 stat over a 195F.
Anyone know of a source for this, if nothing else just to shut me up!
jason
