Which Thermostat

[grasp]

Ok. Im in the middle of tryin to get her through inspection and decided to change my tstat beacuse im pretty sure its stuck open. So I expected to go to the parts store and get a tstat and put it in today. What the ****..nothin is easy. Which thermostat do I use. Advance sold me Stant 13979 another place sold the Stant 13829. Stants website lists the 13978. None of them have the jiggler valve which i assume i need. Id rather not spend 30 on the motorcraft but will if i have to. Any suggestions.
Its a 94 with an atx so i think i need a 195 degree unit.

 

[Camarok]

just bite the bullet and Jiggle it! otherwise it's gonna be a what seems to be a wrong part number nightmare. I just said screw it and got a jiggle valve one from ford.

 

[grasp]

Ive read that there are 2 different thermostats with different temperatures with the same RT1112 model number

 

[Huntervf]

FWIW I've used both "jiggle valve" t-stats and plain ones. From what I can gather all the jiggle valve is good for is letting trapped air escape, but if you keep the radiator cap off while the car warms back up most of the air will come back out anyway. My last 3 t-stats I've replaced on SHO's have all been generic brands without jiggle valves, and my SHO's have been just fine with them.

 

[grasp]

what brand were they. I have access to napa stant and gates. I think thats all

 

[Huntervf]

Two were Autozone and one (which I currently have in my 91) was Napa.

 

[grasp]

So should i get one without the jiggle valve and drill a hole in it?

 

[grasp]

I got a stant and put it in no jiggle valve and i reused the o-ring. Seems to be fine and I have heat. I forgot how nice it was to have heat

 

[Shoaz]

SHOtimes on Thermostats

 

[gmorrell]

SHOtimes on Thermostats

I'd like to make a comment about Eric's very informative article, as well as my own, which is many years old. I'm concerned about two of the thermostats in this picture:

The unit on the left is the SHO OEM thermostat. Notice the extra length of this unit and the additional disc at the bottom. The other two 'stats don't have this disc.

This disc has a definite purpose: As the thermostat opens and admits hot coolant to the radiator, the disc also moves and starts closing off the water pump bypass passage that leads back to the WP inlet. The WP bypass is the round metal tube that runs down the valley between the heads. The WP bypass allows full coolant flow through the engine and water pump before the thermostat is open, this is a necessary passage in all engine cooling systems.

If the thermostat does not have this disc, the water pump bypass passage will not be closed, and some of the hot coolant that is intended for the radiator will simply bypass right back to the pump. This may result in engine overheat under high load situations.

Moral of the story: Use only the Motorcraft OEM unit or the Stant replacements with the WP bypass blocking disc.

Edit: I have several Stant SHO thermostats in the garage, they are 195ºF, part number 13979. Stant also has a 180ºF version of this unit, but I don't have the part number handy. Both have the proper disc to block the WP bypass. Also have a couple of O-rings, Fel-Pro #35278. This should help with part numbers.

Gary M.

 

[sdpatt]

The AutoZone 492-180 works for the 3.0L (it's in mine) and the 492-190 (192?) works for the 3.2L.

 

[MorpheusGPR]

I picked one up from AutoZone today that I may return (my upper radiator hose is wrong!!! so its going back anyways). They sold me a duralast...is this a jiggle type?

I think it was around 10 bucks but I will wait the extra day or two for the Motorcraft unit if I need to I guess.

 

[MorpheusGPR]

Ok read the shotimes article and I do believe the duralast unit has a single jiggle valve...not the stock double and I bet its also got the smaller opening...