During the summer I was going up a mountain and my car started to overheat so I decided to look into a colder thermostat. I saw 180 degree ones but decided to go colder with 160.
My question is:
could a colder thermostat cause any problems?
A 160 can cause you to run hotter then intended. The water temps reach 160 slightly faster not allowing the h2o in the rad enough time to cool down. So eventually you start to switching hot water with hot water. The wtaer has no real time to be cooled off in the rad by the fans. .02
first of all you need a signature look at mine at bottom of post we need to know your mods, year model ect.... i'm assuming your completely stock. so here we go-
a colder thermostat in not the answer to your problem you need to find the reason you think it overheated i said you think because it could be a faulty guage, could be clogged radiator,bad (sticking) thermostat, failing head gasket you need to troubleshoot easiest tasks first and diagnosis problem. i would replace thermostat 192-195 or 180 if you just have to 180 is lowest i would go. use stant superstat or mr gasket (heard good things about mr.gasket but i have never used them) name brand only thermostat(very important). then i would drain and clean cooling system using 50/50 mix antifreeze/distilled
water and drive if problem persists, repost and dig deeper. good luck.