This is topic 160 or 180 degree thermostat in forum Tech Talk at Northern California Ford Owners  .


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Posted by Snake Bite (Member # 88) on :
 
Okay i have another dilema.
I had a 180 thermostat in my car and changes it to a 160 the other day. Now ive been reading that with 160 the car will run richer and i will get less MPG. Ive also read that a 160 wears down the engine faster.

Basically what i want to know is it ok to leave the 160 on or should i just go back and change it to a 180?

Thanks in advance
 
Posted by AJBlackGT (Member # 3936) on :
 
160 wont allow the computer to go into closed loop because it wont warm up enough. I would run a 180
 
Posted by Blue Oval (Member # 2548) on :
 
Run a 180 or stock (195)
 
Posted by 9lbpony (Member # 3510) on :
 
You really shouldn't need anything colder then a 195 in California. I run AC in traffic with a stock radiator and a 105,000 mile old underdriven waterpump with 430/460 at the wheels and I've never had a cooling issue.

As other's have mentioned a 160 won't allow the car to get warm enough to get out of "warm up" mode, nor is it warm enough for adapting learning to occur.

180 should be OK but the engine will wear a little faster - figure all your internal tolerances were engineered around the degree of expansion that happens at the stock operating temperature.

My bigger question, though, would be this:

"why do you think you need to drop to a 160^ thermostat?"
 
Posted by 94gt (Member # 3060) on :
 
quote:
Originally posted by Blue Oval:
Run a 180 or stock (195)
When I got my 94, it had overheating issues, so at the suggestion of JohnB, I replaced my t-stat... the old one was a 160... I put in a stocker 192-195 and the car seemed to run much better [patriot]
 
Posted by Snake Bite (Member # 88) on :
 
Basically, around 3 years ago, i put a chip on my computer and i needed to change the thermostat to a 180. Last week my car started leaking coolant, so i decided to change the thermostat. When i went to buy one i coulndt reme ber if i had installed a 180 or 160. So i bought the 160 and installed it. Keep in mind i have since sold the chip. Now im gonna go back and probably just put the stock 192 back on. I havnt driven my car since i installed the 160 though.
 




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