Removing thermostat - pro's and con's

[tekung89]

so the car i've recently bought seemed a little odd because warm up took approx 10mins or even more to reach 40% on the temp gauge (which is jus touching the temp symbol on a dc2). wen i open the radiator cap the water seems to be constantly flowing.
after abit of aggressive driving at 4-6k rpm for about 10mins, i noticed the temp gauge rising from 40%-to 50% and dropping back to 40%, i continued driving at the same rpm for another 5 mins and it went up to 50%-65% and occasionally dropping back to 50%. however driving normally is fine and it doesnt give me any problems at all

my best guess is that the car has had its thermo stat removed. after some reading i found that a car can potentially over heat if the thermostat is removing because there is constant flow of water at a faster rate and during high revs the water does not spend enough time in the radiator to be cooled down thus overheating can occur. can anyone confirm this?

other stuff i have found is that removing thermo stat can somtimes cause the car to be in cold start mode because the car cannot reach operating temperatures. this causes more wear to the engine and perhaps drain the petrol abit more. the car can also apparently pass out more emissions then usual.

is there anything else people would like to add? and for track use would u guys recommend a low opening thermo stat or jus the oem one.

[Limbo]

yep i can confirm, had the same probs in my previous car, cos i removed the thermostat based on a friend's good idea that it would give me better cooling.

1) I couldn't get the heater to work properly & the engine temp drop really low at night and long drives

2) yes i did loose coolant and it kep coming out from the overflow. I thing the thermostate acts like a pressure valve also so that it keep the pressure inside the cooling system and stops it from overflowing.

These are both what i personally experienced. I then put a new OEM one in and it fixed all these problems

[Limbo]

for track i would just get a baffled sump & oil cooler.
Low opening thermostat, not sure how much benefit it would make for track as your therostat will be opened pretty quickly anyway

[tekung89]

yep i can confirm, had the same probs in my previous car, cos i removed the thermostat based on a friend's good idea that it would give me better cooling.

1) I couldn't get the heater to work properly & the engine temp drop really low at night and long drives

2) yes i did loose coolant and it kep coming out from the overflow. I thing the thermostate acts like a pressure valve also so that it keep the pressure inside the cooling system and stops it from overflowing.

These are both what i personally experienced. I then put a new OEM one in and it fixed all these problems

im losing coolant as well, not alot but it does accumulate over a week. i had in mind maybe the waterpump is on its way out but i'll most likely try replacing the thermostat before jumping into anything else.

[e240]

I used an OEM one in my car

disadantages of not running a thermo
1) engine doesn't get up to operating temp (increased wear & tear)
2) when it doesn't get into op temp, the ECU might stay in cold start mode - increased fuel consumption
3) When a thermo stat is open, it blocks off the coolant bypass - without a thermostat, and if you don't block off the coolant by pass, the coolant may not go into the radiator anyway, so you overheat.

[cvicek]

just wondering issit easy to change the thermo? where issit located on b16a2 engine

[Benson]

Just Dont do it

[beeza]

What do U guys think of the 'coolant by-pass mod' on the Throttle body?

I did this and had it like this for 2 years,I can't say I noticed a difference.
I had problems with all of the sensors on the TB and eneded up replacing them all 1 by 1,each time I did the car improved.I way wondering if this mod may have caused heating problems in the TB?
My car has 100,000km on it now.It had 60,000 when I did the mod.

[Chr1s]

Don't remove your thermostat...simple

[DLO01]

Don't remove your thermostat...simple

Was just about to say that too.

What do U guys think of the 'coolant by-pass mod' on the Throttle body?

I did this and had it like this for 2 years,I can't say I noticed a difference.
I had problems with all of the sensors on the TB and eneded up replacing them all 1 by 1,each time I did the car improved.I way wondering if this mod may have caused heating problems in the TB?
My car has 100,000km on it now.It had 60,000 when I did the mod.

Coolant passed through the TB is only there to stop the butterfly sticking/freezing in cold cold weather. Just imagine cruising on the Hwy and your TB sticks open when you take your foot off the pedel. Maybe its usefull in the southern states. But I have never had any problems in Qld.

I have disconnected mine to the TB and those water lines are now running to my turbo. Such a quick and easy job and killed to birds with one stone.

[beeza]

Thanks Deano!
Do U think the coolant would regulate the tempreture in the TB i.e. stop it from getting too hot?

[DLO01]

Thanks Deano!
Do U think the coolant would regulate the tempreture in the TB i.e. stop it from getting too hot?

Nah, its a constant flow, won't regulate. It will run the same temp as the rest of the coolant in the system.