You posted just before i did mine, you've answered allready...

 

Theoretically, running a cooler stat, gets more power out of the engine..... Theoretically.......

 

Think Dodgevity and i share the same opinion on coolant temps and thermostats, i can't agree with you're answer on this subject, but it doesn't matter either, so may people so many opinons.

Our wiring for example is 20 years old, don't see strange things under my hood, are the hoses or wiring harnasses a little brittle ? might be, don't thtink it's strange at this age and don't see the need for lowering the coolant temps to rescue them...

I've been truckdriver all my life, never had anything less than V8 engines, always the biggest and most powerfull there was.
I've got a Scania 16L 730HP V8 which had a delayed introduction because they couldn't get the cooling system sufficient enough to maintain operating temps.
There are even electrical valves in the engines inside, to regulated the coolant flow, and they run hot with no load on the engine and they don't run hotter when engine is under full load for several hours.
And i mean heavy haulage like running a 20% steep hill in first gear with a total weight off 100 Metric tons in the south off France at 36 degrees Celcius

If something is bad maintained or breaks down, it don't matter what you drive, a 1.1L Suzuki, a Dodge or a 1000HP 18 wheeler, you are stranded when the cooling goes out, at all engines there are different break downs when over heating, it could be nothing happens, could be head gaskets blown, warped heads or dropped valve seats, ruptured coolant lines and so on.

All this has nothing related on operating temps, just on failures when something breaks down.

Like stated before, we might learn a thing or 2 from you Steve, and i'm curious what the outcome will be, so just continue to take you're own steps and who knows i will follow you're lead

 

Much respect for that.

Then my engine would have grenaded a long time ago. What you are describing would happen with severe overheats. The engineers ABSOLUTELY DID design it and peripherals to run at or over 212* or even 220*. Been that way forever, before current govts requirements and across all makes.

That's normal. As HeyYou stated... the oil will run hotter than the coolant, usually 10-15*, so overall engine temps is the average of all temps.

Water in a pot with no fire will eventually evaporate at room temp. Put a fire under it, it evaporates faster. The question is, how long do you want it in your oil? So yes, some water will burn off at lower temps, but you're below optimal rate, if you can even get rid it all. Why compromise your oil longer than you need to? I realize you've been around the block, but how long have you been around the 4.7? It's not the same as the big block motors. It's the reason why I always urge people not to run conventional in it. Seen MANY sludged up with owners scratching their heads. Run a good 20 weight synthetic which will flow up to the lifters fast when cold.
Never an offense meant, my friend. Healthy discussion livens up the forum. LOL

 

Man you guys really dont want me to install a 180 stat and run the motor at 190~195...

 

I would be more inclined to figger out why the engine won't run at 195 or so, with the 195 stat installed.

 

If it had iron heads I would not bother with it... but I agree, it is not holding temp as I'd expect.

 

3/4 of the last tanks, one receipt missing was the one after the ECU swap so there was a re-learn there. I have that receipt and IIRC it was below 15 mpg. All of these tanks are 90~95% hiway & at speeds of 60~64 mph

Tank 1 : 70mm TB, Airaid MIT, K&N drop in, airbox snorkel removed, opening half taped 17.976 mpg
Tank 3 : Same as tank 1 but no tape over opening of the airbox 15.468 mpg **** This tank had the steep hill climb and crappy weather
Tank 4: Same as tank3, breather mod 15.372 mpg **** higher winds on 1st day (2 days total for tank)

Data shows me the airflow thru the box matters for mpg's just as it does for the Ram. Breather mod appears to drop mpgs, however I am not done with it yet.

Airbox snorkel reinstalled * already had a whoops on this tank and hit 70ish passing a band of yahoo's going too slow...

Note: The 2nd & higher miles driven number on the receipt is the 3.3% correction for the tire size difference as measured by GPS

 

Besides the exhaust manifold... show me 1 peripheral device that is ever running that hot, there are none. PS pump, alt, ac compressor... I dont think any of those even make it to 200. I have a thermal imaging camera if we want to find out what they are running at. Would not be at cruising temp though since I'd have to stop and pop the hood for the pic. But even then, that stop event would probably be worst case since there is no airflow thru the front.

On the sludge issue, I have eliminated one source of water in the engine with the oil fill tube wrap and cover for the oil fill cap. I get zero condensation now under there and the fill tube is clear of any snot. I have checked this hot and cold and get nothing. Temps have been in the 30-50* range. The next source of moisture might have been from the breather mod I just reversed, fresh cool air mixed with oil vapor = sludge. I see now why they have it setup the way they do. On throttle the engine is held under a vacuum condition, when throttle closes then it can ingest fresh air out of the air box. I think a better setup then the mod I had would be to have the filter draw in warm or hot air that is dryer then what the air box might have (since it is drawing in from the cooler air from the front of the truck).



Oil change done last night, forgot to clean the brick debris out of the oil pan so I could look for debris in the oil... whoops. In went 5.5 qts of RP 5w-30 & 16 oz of hot shots stiction eliminator... After discussion with Air_Ram he commented on the oil filter output port sizes so I had a look. All of the Fram filters on the shelf (not the one he mentioned) had the same size ports, looked at the Mobil1 filter and also the K&N filters and both of those had larger ports on them. Took a look at the construction of the Mobil1 filter and went with that for the first time vs the Wix i had in there. Not sure I would expect anything but he commented he felt it gave him an edge in performance some way.

 

We are here to help each other out on different subjects....we just have another opinion and want to warn you, not saying we, or I know everything and not telling you what to do ( don't think we can get you turn around ) and even that's no problem at all

Like I said, we might learn something here, when you make the change en have great results, so just keep on doing what you want, we'll see how things turn out.