Too Much Heat

[badc4red]

Need Help with a question. Can someone tell me if I will do any harm by running my system without a thermostat in my 1992 c4. I'm living in Gerorgia and it gets really hot here. Is there a reason that running without a thermostat should not be done. I understand that during the winter if I want heat I need it but I want it as cool as possible during the summer.
Someone mentioned that in some cars running with out a thermostat could cause problems Please give me feed back.

 

[vader86]

I doubt if it will give you any real problems in GA this time of year.
Mine goes straight to 160, then keeps on going up after the stat opens and settles at about 175-185 depending on traffic conditions.

Only problems are concerned with gas mileage, if the engine stays cold too long then the mileage suffers. Of course, it doesnt take long in this 90F weather for your engine to reach 150F and go to closed loop.

 

[Robertwav1]

I wouldn't leave the thermostat out. Replace it if you are unsure of it's condition. The engine is designed to run the most efficient when it's up to temp. Once the car is hot, it's hot, with or without the thermostat. My opinion!

 

[badc4red]

Heat

I have a 160 thermostat and the pcm is set so the fans come on at about 195 and with the air on the fans are on anyway. The car runs up to about 205 then if you start to get into traffic and sitting for a short time it gets right on up to 230-235 and unless you can get really out on the road and run 50 ot 60 for a bit it doesn't come down.
Just seems to dang hot, cooler....NOT Cold but cooler has got to be less wear on the engine it seems to me.
Vader 86 What did you mean by 150 and then goes to closed loop??
But from everything I have seen so far no one has said that it will hurt it to run without a thermostat. Is this correct.

 

[vms4evr]

No tstat and the coolant flows too fast with too little restriction. Some of the thermal reduction will be lost. You should run it with a tstat in it. Like vader said at 150 you go into closed loop. You need to be in closed loop for the engine to run properly. Open loop is only supposed to be for when it is cold at startup for a short while.
I also own a 92. Put a 165deg stat in it. Flushed out the system. Added an Ed Wright chip programmed for fans on at 200 and off at 190. I typically run 175-185 also. Once you're intown in heavy traffic it gets to 200 pretty quick, then the fans kick in. In this weather once the car warms up my oil temps still hit 200-220 which is a good thing. I just did an autox a couple of weeks ago and the fans came on when I was sitting in line staging. Other than that the engine temps stayed below 200 for coolant. Hit maybe 230 on the oil temp.
No more cooling system running 225-235.
Graham

 

[badc4red]

vms4evr,
Thanks my problem seems to be that in traffic the coolant temp wants to get to 230-235 and the fans are running but it won't come down until back out of traffic running 50-60 for a bit. I haven't been checking the oil temp. Seems like I may need flushing or the radiator is clogged. I can live with the 200 but should it not go down to that with the fans on even in traffic. And if you can please tell me exactly what closed loop means.
Thanks

 

[vms4evr]

Open loop happens right when you start the car. The engine is cold obviously and not as effecient as when it is warmed up. So the computer makes some air/fuel mixture adjustments to make driveability better. Once the car is warmed up it goes into Closed loop and the computer makes different adjustments to air/fuel etc. The engine is now operating at acceptable temps for normal adjustments to occur.

It gets a lot more detailed but I've never gotten much past that. All computer controlled cars do this. It makes it more driveable when cold and is also supposed to help keep emission levels down on a cold engine.

 

[hawaii-5-lo]

hey there,
your temps probably arent coming down because your fans are on at 230* so it starts to cool off,then when it hits 220* the fans go off again,even with a 160* t-stat your temps will not stay that low unless you get a bigger radiator and have the fans come on much sooner ,i had an 89 and had the fans on all the time with a 160* t-stat and the temps would be 170* and about 190* in heavy traffic,now if i turn the a/c on it would get to 205*because the a/c condensor is in front of the radiator and that bugger gets pretty hot,then the fans pull the hot air threw the radiator,like i said,that was my situation,but in the staging line at the track my a/c was not on,and remember my fan never shut off,so the temp would get down to 170*.heat above 210*will really kill some power.i was going to get a bigger radiator,but i got a c5 instead.now im going thru this all over again.160* t-stat and fan controls are on the way.now at the track(with c5) i run the a/c to kick the fans on but it only gets down to 205*because the damn a/c condensor is also hot,and the fan is pulling the hot air thru radiator.with a/c on the fans only come on in low,i need the fan control to kick the fans in high and shut off the damn a/c,the c5 is even more heat sensitive,anyway,good luck,later,Todd.oh ya,open loop is a pre-set fuel/air etc..,no o2 sensor,closed loop o2 now controlling air/fuel.thats the basics anyway.

 

[The Car Whisperer]

This might work for your situation. I put a lower temperature cooling fan switch in my car, fans turn on at 200 and off at 180. The temperature may go up to 210 on a hot day in traffic with the AC on, but thats as high as it gets. I used to get way up there in the 240 to 250 range, made me worry a lot! Thermostat doesn't seem to have an effect on this from what I have tried in the past, the fans seem to have the greatest effect. Do you have an auxilary fan in front of the radiator? If not then adding one will help a lot to bring the temperature right down once the low temp switch kicks in. Switch and fans are available from all the regular Vette vendors and I think TPIS also carries the switch. The switch goes on the left side head, i think about between the #1 and #3 spark plugs. If you already have a switch there then you may have the auxiliary cooling fan already installed in you car. I beleive the factory switch is set to come on at the higher temps, you can replace it with a low temp one. The switch will come with full instructions on how to wire it in properly. Engine runs great! Can't verify any horsepower gain from it but it does run great and doesn't seem to knock at all when I stand on it now. It used to knock a bit when it ran at the higher temps.