As I am about to replace (engine nearing 60K) my WP, I question whether or not to install a lower temp stat do to my driving characteristics. All of my daily drives consist of short 10 mile drives to and from (12-15 minutes) work and the occasional run to town (20 min each way) once or twice a month.

My understanding is the lower T-stat will take longer for the car to come up to full temp, thus my thinking is to stick with the stock T-stat.
I'm on an island and will end up in the Pacific ocean if I drive an hour in a straight line!

Am I missing something?

 

The temp will come up at the same rate. The t stat will open at a lower temp. The idea behind it is some areas of the motor get hotter than other quicker, the lower temp stat will allow uniformed cooling quicker.

 

But with my short drive cycles is it really a concern?

 

Depends on who you ask. Everyone has an opinion on the subject. I personally would think it would be a good idea as the hot spots in the motor are present during the time the tstat is not open. So you would want it open as fast as possible. I see it as cheap insurance.

 

Glad I asked before proceeding. thanks!

 

I'm going in the other direction. Yes, a lower temperature thermostat opens sooner as the coolant temperature rises. But...but...for someone who uses their car for short trips and not often, I think it would be better to use the stock thermostat in order to raise the temperature on short trips to burn off moisture absorbed by the oil, and condensation in the crankcase. Once either the lower temp thermostat or normal temp thermostat open, the flow is the same. It is just a matter of how soon the thermostat opens, and for short trips, raising the engine temp in a short time is probably a good thing.

P.S. I live in Florida and I installed a stock thermostat when I changed out the water pump. I have no problems with heat and the temp stays between the 8 and 0. Warms up to that in probably 4-5 minutes of run time depending on ambient air temps.

 

That was exactly my thinking originally.

 

Can't disagree with the argument. However i will point out that coolant temp has nothing to do with oil temps. Oil temps take a long time to come up regardless of coolant temps. Fuel and moisture burn off from the oil will take a long drive. longer drive than anyone can do on an island .

 

Actually, I just got done reading that the lower (160*) stat indeed resulted in lower oil temps during dyno testing by almost 30*.

 

The temperature the engine reaches with the lower thermostat should be enough to burn off moisture off the oil. The sooner the thermostat open, the sooner you circulate water eliminating the hot spots.

 

The way I see it if you decided to drive it a bit more spirited as soon as the engine come up to temp. My understanding is that upon slowing down the coolant may have started to cool and thermostat starts to close but the engine temp behind is still hot and lower temp thermostat slows down on reducing the coolant flow helps?

 

Just wanted to point out i live very close to you. I agree with the above. But will also add the gauge is not a true representation of your fluid temps. If you have a scanner that can graph live data, i urge you to do so. You will quickly see anything from about 160 to 210 is all in that same spot.

 

I will bow out with my previous statement.

 

I kind of agree and kind of disagree. As the coolant and engine temperature rise, so does the oil temperature rise. The sooner it does this...for short trips and not long duration drives...the better the oil temperature rises to get rid of moisture. Remember the oil heat exchanger on the top of the engine? Designed to heat the oil for better flow when the engine is cold, and cool the oil when the engine is hot because the oil will get hotter than the coolant. I have no scientific data to go by, but I have mapped on my Durametric that the rise in coolant temperature does warm the oil quicker, then the oil temperature goes up to like 200+ when the engine runs for longer than 10 minutes.

 

When engine cold thermostat is closed, and coolant circulates inside engine with none to radiators. If an engine has hot or cold spots this is not related to thermo because it's closed and not part of the system at this point.

As engine warms thermo begins to open and water flows to radiator. During normal operation thermo doesn't stay open but modulates to hold system at thermo rated temp.

As radiators reach their capacity to dissipate heat thermo stays full open, and if temp needle represents actual temp then it climbs above normal.

Only difference between regular and low-temp thermo is coolant temp modulated at a different value; lower may increase horsepower and higher decrease emissions, and wear of engine and coolant system components may be increased or decreased that would take a lot of testing to find out.