THX...WE all here at the shop got a good chuckle out of that. That is going in to my sig for some good laughs. 195 is for emissions only and is the cause of the cracked head issue . 180 is for max torque as the JTEC pcm is tuned from the factory to produce max torque at 182 not 195 as stated early.. 180 also suppress nucleate boiling in the cylinder head which is the #1 cause of the cracked head issue and not a clogged cat.. Another myth... My source for this info is experience. but if you need to read it to believe it...not ricer or gm crap..this is pure mopar. Your Magnum's stock thermostat is rated at 195 degrees F. The engine controller, however, is designed to make maximum power when the engine temp is 182 degrees-a big difference. If you install a hi-perf controller but retain the 195-degree thermostat, chances are the engine will ping like crazy. Going to 94-octane gas won't cure the condition either. This is what's happening: Underloading the engine is generating higher combustion-chamber temperatures. When that happens, the coolant is air pocketing on the north side of the combustion chamber.You can easily solve these heat problems by dropping to a 180- to 185-degree thermostat. Believe it or not, lowering your engine temp 10-15 degrees will stop 90 percent of the coolant pocketing in the cylinder head. Also, you'll pick up a few horses and get slightly better gas mileage. Quite a deal for less than $10. One last thing: If you live in a place with cold winters, switch back to your stock, 195-degree thermo during that season. http://www.sporttruck.com/techarticl...magnum_trucks/

 

I would love to see dyno charts before/after JUST a thermostat change.......

195 wasn't JUST for emissions either, go back and look at some cars from the 60's, what tempt thermostat did they run? 195....... Weren't no emissions laws then.

 

I whole heartedly argee with you that the Keg absorbs more heat from the engine than from the coolant cross over in the front of the intake because of it being aluminum it acts like a Giant Heatsink on a computer processor. But a cooler water temp cools the block & heads down and overall the engine does run cooler and less heat goes to the plenum with a 180 thermostat, like you said heat does not just live in the coolant.

I also agree that with a 180 degree thermostat alone you may or may not see an improvment at the wheels on a dyno alone if thats just all that you swap out, however if your engine is pinging/pre-detonating the cooler temps may prevent or reduce the effects of pre-detonation causing your engine to at least gain back the power its supposed to have from the factory, not any gains above that by itself. But I still stand by the fact it will not harm your drive-ability or throw any codes (at least on a 97 cuz thats what I have) and that the computer won't care that its there at 180 degrees, at 160 it probably would affect the pcm & float in and out of closed loop causing issues. 180 is within range of the warm up parameters of the pcm.

I personally went with the 180 degree thermostat because during the summer of 2012 the week I bought my truck and did the plenum gasket & tune up it was topping 100 degrees for Central Wisconsin for the whole week, and I was pulling a lot of stuff and using the truck a lot for grunt work so that was my motivation for installing the 180, the rest of the arguments about cooler temps = more power was just a bonus, but wasn't my main focus.

 

Will a cold engine effect the mpg? If so better mpg or worse?

 

Also my engine runs at about 130 constantly! And now my heater doesn't work. Is it because of the temp of the engine or the heater core?

 

Heater core uses engine coolant to keep you warm. If the engine doesn't get warm, neither do you.

Replace your thermostat. Running cold will burn more fuel, and is generally bad for your engine. (that cold, at any rate.)

Check coolant level as well. No heat usually implies low coolant.

 

appreciate it but i have plenty of coolant. but my dad put a faulty thermostat in there purposely because the engine kept over heating.

 

Need to find out why then. (overheating)

These trucks are notorious for developing air pockets in the heater core/lines, and then having crappy heat. Try burping the system again.

 

how owuld you "burp" the system

 

After mudding with my brother the other day in slush melting snow & mud and seeing his chevy overheat I'm certainly glad I went with the 180 degree thermostat and NOT going above even 190!. We'd get stuck then pull eachother out and then traverse foot and a half deep ice frozen snow which was an absolute W-H-O-R-E to get through. My last trip I got almost 19 mpg on a 130 mile hwy ride with my gf, and yesterday I completely owned another 2nd gen Ram on the hwy up ramp...and after 9 months of having the 180 in I can say I suffer no efficiency issues what so ever amd it'd be fair to say I run a heck of a lot better than nearly every 2nd gen Ram in town thats near stock.