I bought my 1999 ram 1500 about a month ago and so far nothing seems to be wrong with it except I live in North Dakota where it's below freezing almost all the damn time. My heater blows (go figure) so most of my drives to work are cold ones. One thing that's not making sense to me though is the temp NEVER exceeds 150 and I'm starting to think that might have something to do with it.

My question is: What thermostat is in my pickup and would it benefit me to swap this one out for a higher one and if so, what brand do you recommend?

 

195 is stock. Stant super stat.

 

Very informative thread.

 

Damn, I MISS Zman.

 

I just read through all the posts and good info indeed, I was curious myself about if going to the 180 stat would give a little more power like many claimed here, and supposedly help the plenum from blowing. I doubt in real life usage even if it did get 0.2mpg less that would be noticeable. I just remember reading online that until the 5.2/5.9 reaches operating temp, the ECM dumps alot of fuel, I guess the people were wrong though if it's indeed just 0.2mpg less.

With winter approaching I may stick a new 195degree stat in though, I still need to chase down my intermittent coolant loss, it could indeed be a bad thermostat or thermostat gasket in my case, I pulled a stored trouble code 17 I believe, which for the OBD1 trucks meant it wasn't reaching operating temp within 8 mins or something

http://dodgeram.info/Engine-Gas/OBDI/Fault-17.htm

with my stuck spark plug issue taken care of, next order will be a new stat and see if that fixes the leak, if not, new waterpump time

 

Well, I'm running a 180 Thermostat right now. Next thermostat, I'll be going back to 195. With the 180, the heat barely even warms up in the winter.

 

The 180 stat only helps if you are running a tuner.... which on your truck, you can't. Stick with the 195, that's what the PCM expects. There is no power gain to be had from a colder stat.