philthy

Here's my senario, I have every bolt on you can think of with out going into the engine right down to 3:42's. I have noticed that the operating temperature has gone from 196 to past 200. I live in Miami and the out side temp often reaches 100. Will swaping the thermostat cause anything adverse? I was once told that it could cause the heads to warp. But I can feel the power loss when it starts to get hot. I have the plastic around the fog lights cut out, and it seems to help when i'm on the expressway. But once the car stops or slows down the tem goes right up.

dahoof

I run a 160" thermostat. And it does cool better . I have to be sitting in major traffice to see above 187". You will need to get your fans programmed though.


:cheers:

runamuk

:iagree:
The only thing that will be affected are your emissions output will be raised slightly. :cheers:

MojoRisen

My coolant temp usually runs 200-225. Is that way to hot

GaryZ06

Hey Phil....I run a 160 stat and in traffic I run from 178-182 and the highway from 172-176....

LittleBoyBlu99

A 160 thermo is to low 178 is where you want to be for max hp. The motor needs to run a little warmer to disapate the oil . Most tuners I talk to say thats to low and it can cause a problem in the computer. :thumbs: :iagree:

MC TORCH RED

:iagree: my car has a 172 stat and it seems happy at around 185 to 195 , its runs its best times at that temp :yesnod:

XKR100

I have run a 160* tstat for nearly 3 years.As long as you reprogram for your lower degree tstat and lower for the radiator fans you will be fine.In Houston traffic I run at 178* all day and the tuners I have talked to and who have done my H/C are like me they are old school,that the colder the better.That is why we just put a B&M transmission cooler on and over the weekend in Houston heat my trans temps never got above 160* with my A4.
jerry :cheers:

6Speeder

The Hypertech 160 will be fine. I've run one for three years, and even with the heads/cam package pass emissions fine. It doesn't really hold at 160, more like 170-180 in winter. 175-185 summer traffic, with reset fan settings. Running cooler will allow you to increase timing (or use the timing you now have) without knock retard. :seeya

Evil-Twin

A 160 is fine specially for florida.. Ive been running one for four years... with no problems.. One hint... make sure you test the new stat ( meat thermometer pot of water... add heat note the temp the stat starts opening..
many people have reported some 160 stats opening at 190.... seems some are packaged wrong.... I have not seen a single post about the hypertech 160 being a problem.. I had two bad stats before I bought a hypertech...

philthy

Thanks for all the input. I think i will go ahead with the install and have the fans reprogramed. I just wanted to make sure that it wouldn't cause a disaster later down the road. In the past all I have had was classic mustangs and if the temp was up to 200 it would cause a melt down!

Evil-Twin

the cooling sytem is designed for high temps... less emissions...
under normal conditions without the Ac on the high speed fans are designed to come on at 230F. but its freeking hot.. and in florida you know what I mean...

davidmax

I run a 160 until winter if you can call it that.When it goes to the hi 40's-50's in the season I install a 180 to make sure my 15 minute run will generrate enough heat to burn the codensatuin in the crank case.
If I leave in the 160 I hit 155-168 lower at cruising and just my bare block is about 6-7k.
So I will once warmed up do some driving in boost the only problem is your in for some poor gas mileage and wea andd tear,Dave Smilovic

frick

Am I missing something, since, ultimately the fans control the top temperature of the coolant, why not just set your fan on temps higher in the winter? It sounds like a lot less hassle than switching stats twice a year.

Am I correct? If you install a lower stat without fan reprogramming, ultimately it will get just as hot, only starting to flow coolant through the radiator sooner, and 40 to 50 degrees bottom temps in the winter dont seem low enough to be that great of a heat sink, I could understand if the car was in Minnesota at 20 below.

Have you observed coolant temps during the winter with the lower stat, or are you assuming that they just wont go high enough?

:auto:

ScreaminDemon

160 is too low. Your engine must warm up enough on cold start-up to evaporate the water in the air that has condensed inside the block and mixed with your oil. There was a big write-up on the best stat for the LS1-LS6 engine. The article was in the GM High Tech Performance Magazine, and after a full comparison, it stated that the 178 stat was optimal for peak performance. If you want me to look up the month and year of the article, just let me know.

David

mjf6175

This is one of those topics like "which exhaust is better?". You will get varied opinions and some of them will depend on what part of the country the person lives in. Living in NJ and using the 160 stat for 2 yrs, I have not had any problems. I was going to change the program for the fans but didnt since the following has happened for me:
1) In almost all situations the vette runs right around 175. It will take a little longer to get there but it does. This temperature also meets what some here are saying is the ideal temp for the engine to run at. Being concerned that the engine is not at a high enough temp is NOT an issue. The stat opens up at 160 and the coolant temp will continue to go up slowly since the fans are NOT coming on. Even in the winter the vette runs over 170. I have yet to see the car run in the 160's after it warms up.
2) In traffic, stop/go driving or really hot weather I found that it takes significantly longer to get to the 200+ temp area. But once out of traffic or moving again I found that the vette also cools back down to the 175 alot quicker as well.
3) Yes it would be better to have programed the fans for lower temps, but since I was getting results that were very close to what i wanted I didnt. I guess you can say using the 160 stat is the "lazy" way, that is you can get by without reprogramming. If you want the temps to NEVER go into the 200's then you MUST reprogram. Since for me 200 was seldom seen it was good enough.
4) Maybe this is a benefit, not sure, but also the fans will not cycle on and off as much. In fact they rarely come on while on the highway and all the while the temp is around the 175 mark.


[Modified by mjf6175, 10:16 AM 9/11/2003]

Ex_F-Body_Enthusiast

:iagree:

The Hypertech 160 degree stats are high quality units manufactured by MotoRad in Germany. I've used them for over 15 years on F-Bodies, Vettes and Trucks all year round with no issues. GM uses the 195 stats simply to pass emission testing in all climates. Here in the Texas heat, I consider a 160 stat a neccessity, and is usually the 1st mod I perform on *all* my vehicles, even my brand new trucks! In addition to the cooler running engine temps and all the associated performance benefits; I've noticed that even the A/C blows colder during the summer, which is a good thing. . .

Cash (damn its hot) Mullen

SHOWTIME!

aluminum motors like heat :yesnod: If you have a cooling problem get a real radiator.....

SFVetteman

160 is only the temp at which the thermostat opens, it is not your coolant temp. And lower coolant temps do not mean a corespondingly big drop in oil temps. While my coolant temp is around 175-185 while crusing my oil temp is around 215 or higher.

vettenuts

The optimum temp for you oil, which I haven't seen discussed, is 200-210 degrees. I have the stock stat and have installed a Vinci switch that I have set to come on at 207 degrees with both fans. The motor stays between 201 and 207 in traffic in hot weather. I believe this to be the optimum setup. The 160 is too cold in my opinion because the oil temp will not get high enough.