Mr. Z.

I saw in a catolog a thermostat for the 944 with a lower temp rating and a fan switch that had the same....it said that they would help the car run better in warmer weather. My car's temp gauge climbs a bit in stop and go stuff in the heat, would this be a good upgrade? thanks.

Toolmaster

Mr. Z:

In a word - NO.

The stock electronics are designed with a specific tempurature in mind to level off the increased fuel for warm-up. The lower level thermostat would increase the time it takes for your engine to hit the "sweet spot" for temp, meaning you'll use more gas.

If your car is running a bit warm, or hot, look into the stock thermostat, potentially bleeding the coolant system in case there's some air in there, and insure that your radiator is not blocked. These cars will run fine with the stock cooling system.

HTH!

Jay
86 951

Danno

Changing your thermostat will only prolong your warm-up period, but does nothing for your max operating temperatures, especially if you're overheating. That's because once you get up to 160-180-degrees when the thermostat opens, it's fully open regardless of the temperature rating. Two fully-open thermostats of different temperature ratings will flow the exact same amount of water. So going to a lower-temp thermostat won't help any kind of an overheating problem. Unless your thermostat is stuck, in which case you should replace with a factory-spec one.

If your car is getting hot at low speeds, check out the fan thermo switch, it may not be activating your fan when the temperature creeps up.