What degree thermostat is everyone using

[Afastgts95]

I have a question about thermostats. I live in florida so the weather is usually hot. My car runs a solid 200* degrees unless I have my a/c on. I installed a 180* thermostat and it made no difference unless my a/c was on. Why is that? I was also told Not to run a lower Degree thermostat because my car could run to cold and damage my heads? Would it do any harm to install a 160* thermostat. what does everyone else run? How low of a thrmostat degree could I put in? I've had different opinions so I figured I would ask the mustang experts.

 

[Ryan Paterick]

180* stat
Fluidyne radiator
Red line water wetter
drill two pin holes in the stat itself. On either side of the stat. Prevents air pockets.

 

[AznStanger3v]

im running 180*. Horribly cold winters and deathly hot summers here in Northern Va the past couple years.

 

[VibrantRedGT]

180* stat
Fluidyne radiator
Red line water wetter
drill two pin holes in the stat itself. On either side of the stat. Prevents air pockets.

Same except 160 stat.

 

[wytstang]

I run a 180* runs fine the gauge hardly moves. I live just before you enter the Florida Keys ( Florida City ) So I know what you mean about the wheather. I was told if you run a 160* stat that the water does not have enough time to stay in the rad. to cool off before the stat opens again. just a thought

 

[S/CBlack95GT]

I have a 180. You must remember that the car will not stay at 180 unless you have a good amount of air moving through the radiator. If you are in traffic or just cruising around town at 35mph or so the car will heat up. My car heats up to around 210 when Im in traffic and then the electric fan maintains that temp around 200-210, depending on how much Im stopped. On the interstate or highway the temp is dead on 180.

 

[viperos]

well, I (not being lazy, and caring about both performance, any engine's internals) change my thermo about every 5-7 months... 160 in the summer (during the racing season) and 210 in the winter... I get heat so freaking quick, so nice! I can change mine in about 20 min, after all's done... so, I'm getting better at it..

 

[Killercanary]

I run a 180* stat, water wetter, and my t-stat also has 2 small holes drilled in it to prevent an air lock in the cooling system when filling it.

 

[blksn955.o]

I have a 180. You must remember that the car will not stay at 180 unless you have a good amount of air moving through the radiator. If you are in traffic or just cruising around town at 35mph or so the car will heat up. My car heats up to around 210 when Im in traffic and then the electric fan maintains that temp around 200-210, depending on how much Im stopped. On the interstate or highway the temp is dead on 180.

I run a 180

Thats what mine does too. It was realy bad and I spent about a year (only drove the car 1/4-1/3 of a tank in that time) trying to find out why it ran soo hot on a or l. Changed the pump, ccrm,t-stat,hoses, head gaskets, fuelpump (in a thought maybe its realy lean). Ended up a bad block to chasis ground was not letting my fans turn on, this is only a guess since before all my guages were acting funny and since the fix not a bit of trouble on the n or o 95% of the time unless as stated above it has gotten to the top of o or r for a sec. in heavy traffic then back down it goes.

 

[TrueBlue95GT]

Where is the ground to the block?

 

[94GTLaserRC]

180, Fluidyne, and High fan at 185*.

Joe, You have a 160 now?
RC

 

[5.0 from 95]

You can also run a fan on a switch so you can control the air flow. I thought more people on here did that. I do have a wiring diagram of it if you need one. I will be running a 180* when I get my car finished up. Should be in about 2 weeks.


Paul

 

[Venom351R]

180 T Stat stock Rad. I dont have any cooling problems and thats using Underdrive pullies. And yes is does get hot here in the summers but my temp still stays fairly cool.

The reason they say not to go below a 180 is b/c our cars are ment to operate at a certin temp the cars " perfered operating temp" that temp is right around 200*. If you use at 160 T Stat then it will be in a contineous loop always trying to cool down the motor. Heat is not always bad, our cars do have to reach a certin temp to preform at there best and w/ a 160 T Stat you cant acheive that as well.

 

[blksn955.o]

You can also run a fan on a switch so you can control the air flow. I thought more people on here did that. I do have a wiring diagram of it if you need one. I will be running a 180* when I get my car finished up. Should be in about 2 weeks.


Paul

I have one of those switches, always thought of it more as a band aid fix though. I have not used it in 3 months were I was using it everyday before I fixed the ground.

TrueBlue : it was on the driver side (I think) I jacked up the car and saw a wire going from the side of the block (by were the oil sender is as well as ground bolt for the batt.) 2 bolts and some 8-10guage wire and two hoops= fixed. I quickly tested this by using a piece of ground wire, first from bat to rad. support= nothing, then checked all batt. conn.= nothing, finaly hooked the wire to my headers and to the strut tower brace bolt= started up and worked great. -- note my conn. got so bad that the car would not start anymore I think the ground got worse and worse untill it just quit altogether--

 

[viperos]

does anyone else change out your thermo twice a year like me?? it's really the best thing to do I tried the whole 180 thing, but my car took a while to give me heat, but the 195 (stock) didn't give me cold air much at all, let alone kept it cool enough to run 9s at the track (had to throw in a reference to F&F some time today )

 

[ProKiller]

160* t-stat
stock rad.
manual fan switch

runs a bit under 180* normal driving. when i hit traffic, i turn the fan on and stays at a bit over 180. i just don't like it getting any hotter with the supercharger(got this thing in my head about detonation).

 

[urban96]

180

 

[Katmandu]

I just installed a 192 and my engine is STILL running COLD and RICH !!

WTF ??

 

[viperos]

man, that sucks is it really cold there in Troy, Ohio?

 

[GTPhreak]

180* MrGasket balanced high flow