Another 180* thermostat question...

[slimguns]

Well, I think I may have been given a 160* when I bought the 180*. Silly me trusted the parts guy and put it in without double checking his work. Anyways, I have been monitoring my engine (L36) for months now and now that the summer is hitting I'm realizing that even in the mild mornings (40* ish) my engine warms up to 180* during city driving but highway drops to 161* +/- 1*. My thinking tells me that I should be bottoming out at the 180* +/- 3* with a 180* thermostat.

Keep in mind I do have a larger radiator. It was up'd in anticipation of my top swap. As you'll see in my other post I have a UD for the water pump on its way.

Do you all think its normal or should I buy the new gaskets and check/replace it?

[FordMan77]

Unless you're tuned for the 180 stat, I would just replace it with the stock 195* and call it done. No need to drop to the 180 when the fan turn-on points are still set to stock. That and not letting the engine get to proper temp will cause more harm then good.

[slimguns]

It is tuned at 185* on, 182* off (low), 190* on, 185.1* off (high). It strangely turns on at 185* but doesn't turn off until 176*.

I guess I find it weird that highway brings me down to roughly 160* before it seems to plateau. My reasoning tells me if it was just my oversized radiator that it would continue to drop and only plateau based on ambient temperature, but, with a 20-30* difference in ambient it's still dropping to 160*'ish.

Ill just open it up and check as its cheap and easy. I just simply don't like it running so low on highway.

[slimguns]

Oh yeah. I question this more because the same place has given me a 160 instead of a 180 before for my Rover.

[Fivefingerdeathpunch]

Get a new 180.

Temps should never be that low.

[slimguns]

Ok. That's what I was thinking. Thanks for the thoughts.

[dsmuts]

Your coolant temp sensor could be giving false readings. I put a new 180 and coolant temp sensor in my comp g and I think it's off some because I'm usually around 176ish