Hey guys, I did my plenum not too long ago and put in a 180° Thermostat as well. Well for last two weeks my CEL has turned on throwing the code p1281 saying my engine is too cold. Looked online briefly as to what the cause may be and read it could be low coolant temp (checked and full), a bad/stuck open or closed thermostat (thermostat is new), or if I put an aftermarket lower temp thermostat (which I did) that can cause the CEL to light up. So my question is, what do I do? Do I have to use a stock temp thermostat? Or? Thanks guys

 

The 180 degree thermostat should work just fine, there are many people using them with out any problems. Its possible your new thermostat is bad and stuck open. If the thermostat was stuck closed your truck would be over heating.

 

So should I just buy a new 180°?

 

you should put a 195 in unless you have a tuner or getting a tuner in the immediate future.

youre just wasting gas as it is now

 

195 it is than. Thanks guys!

 

I think it depends on the personality of the truck Lol. I have a 98 dakota 3.9 i did the plenum on and i put a 180* tstat in it and never had a problem, but come winter i throw something in front of the radiator. Now i have a 99 2500 with v8 and it too has a 180* tstat from when i did the plenum, havent gotten any codes and went on a road trip when it was 55* out the whole way and got no codes then.

 

I'm running a 180 Stant Superstat (which is a premium thermostat) in my truck and have had no issues whatsoever. I have also made sure my cooling system is in good shape, too. I cleaned out the block of crud by popping out the freeze plugs and digging out the crud from around the cylinders and installed a new CSP all-aluminum radiator.

 

The 2000-01 have the problem of throwing that code with the 180 stat. It's well documented over the years when we were all trying to cure the ping. Dodge changed the pcm coding in those years for more emission control (faster warmup aids fuel consumption). What you could do is put some winter front on and help it warm up faster. I've run a 180 since about 06 from WA to MN to SD and it needs a winter front when fall arrives but even without, I've never thrown a code on my 99.

 

What he said.

 

here is a wild idea. tap in to coolant sender wire and lie to the computer. i have not tried it but it might work.