what's the stock therm degree. and what diff can i expect from the 180....what's the purpose of the therm too...what's the diff betweeb stock and the 180.....sorry for being such a newbie.. but better to ask and no know better. thanx like always guys

 

If I remember right stock is 190. The 180 opens a little sooner and runs the motor a little cooler. Inhigher HP applications it will keep the motor a bit cooler.

 

I believe you're right. The stock is 190.

 

Stock is 195F, printed right on the thermostat.

The thermostat stays shut until 195F or so to allow the engine to warm up as rapidly as possible. Once the thermostat is open, the PCM takes over (using the rad fans) to keep temperature between 200F and 220F (give or take). Running a cooler thermostat will only cause your car to take longer to warm up. That's it. With the car warm and running, the stock thermostat should never, ever shut... even in single digit outside temperatures on the freeway (I have hours and hours of datalogs somewhere on my laptop...). With a 180F thermostat, ditto. With a 145F thermostat, ditto. There is zero perfomance advantage to it.

On older cars without computer control, a lower thermostat and a lower ranged temperature switch (operates the fan clutch on the motor), you could get the car to stay at lower temperatures than normal. Lower temperatures mean you can make more power safely (it doesn't make more power on its own). Of course, we don't go putting side-draft Weber carbs on our Neons, so I really don't see the correlation. Two different animals entirely.

Best of luck!

 

With out doing any scientific studies, I know that at least my coolant is running cooler after installing my 160 thermostat. If I let it sit and idle forever then the coolant rises to the stock level, but if I am driving either on the highway or even around town the temperature gauge needle does indeed indicate that the engine is running much cooler than the stock 195. As far as making power, I cannot tell any difference. It makes sense, however, that increased heat equals reduced efficency(heat=energy lost), and if the heat produced by the engine is reduced then there should be some power gain, even if it is a insignificant amount. At least that makes sense to me. Now this idea could also be completely off base, but since the computer uses a water temperature sensor to regulate the quantity of fuel that enters the engine (cooler car- richer mixture), then it would also provide more fuel to burn. Again, with the right mods, could also equal more power. Just a few ideas.

 

see, peoplese1234, your explanation of how things work seems right to me. Not to say that yours isn't right RadarLove. I'd like to think that installing a lower temp thermostat would lower the overall temperature of your engine; leading to greater performance. I have no real need for this mod, being that I live in Canada and prefer that my car heat up a little faster in the winter time.

 

so should i be better off gettin the 160 therm or the 180 now.. 180 is better then stock...ofcourse i know know that now,,,only disadvantage is that the 180 take longer to heat the car up as im sure the 160 would too..... but im in the fl orlando area... too much sun n e waysss....so now the ??? is... 180 or 160???