lower temp thermostat

[black93sho]

I have a lower temp thermostat in my 93 ATX. It is the other one that is offered for the SHO at the autoparts store. It runs at the bottom on the l of normal, when on the highway. Is this bad for my car, will it hurt it?

 

[Mr Anonymous]

Probably not, but you should monitor your fuel economy to make sure the car is entering closed loop mode and not running rich.

Did the t-stat you installed have a hole or jiggle valve at 12:00?

 

[SHOtime2511]

your only problem may be you could be running a little rich

 

[bgjohnson]

only problem?!

running that rich all the time will destroy your cats pretty fast, with these cars you might not want to mess with the thermostat. with my mustang you can mess with it a bit like stock is 192 and i put a 180 in it, anything lower then that has troubles. so with a SHO it'd probably mess up the computer even more. i'd just stick with a stock thermostat.

 

[Axianator]

running that rich all the time will destroy your cats pretty fast, with these cars you might not want to mess with the thermostat. with my mustang you can mess with it a bit like stock is 192 and i put a 180 in it, anything lower then that has troubles. so with a SHO it'd probably mess up the computer even more. i'd just stick with a stock thermostat.

A complete and utter urban myth, at least when applied to the SHO.

A 180F 'stat will not cause your ATX to run any richer than it would with a stock 192F 'stat, blacksho.

 

[SHOZ123]

Probably won't do much anyway. The t-stat only controls the minimum temp. It is the fan setting, cooling system condition and ambient conditions that set the actual operating temps.

 

[Shoaz]

Probably won't do much anyway. The t-stat only controls the minimum temp. It is the fan setting, cooling system condition and ambient conditions that set the actual operating temps.

Yes, a lower temp thermostat just makes it take longer to get there.

I'm always amazed at people's desire to make changes like this. Yamaha and Ford invested quite a bit of money developing the engine and that included determining an efficient and safe operating temperature. Why would people think that changing that is a good idea, especially without knowing all of the effects in the computer?

If the motivation is just to get a 180F T-stat in there because one can't find or can't afford a 192F T-stat, then I'd say that's fine, it'll still work, but there may be some effects that show up in longevity or other maintenance. Maybe there won't be. I can't see just changing it for the sake of change or to try to make any kind of improvement, though.

BTW, here's a relevant link:

SHOtimes T-Stat

 

[black93sho]

I changed it because it was running to hot for my likings during the summer.

 

[Shoaz]

I changed it because it was running to hot for my likings during the summer.

That's part of the point: lowering the temperature of the T-Stat opening will not make the engine run cooler, it only makes it take a little longer to get to whatever temp at which it will run. If the system is over-cooled and the engine can't ever get up to temp, then the T-Stat will affect that, but if your engine is running too hot it's a non-issue.

You need to find out why it's running too hot, and the only way that the T-Stat will affect that is if it's not opening (i.e., defective) or is too restrictive so that it impedes coolant flow. The OEM thermostat has one of the largest openings of available T-Stats, so it's a a possibility that an aftermarket low-temp T-Stat will result in higher operating temps.

And the jiggle-valves are important.