A cupla weeks ago FocusMech.73155 replaced my Timing Belt & other goodies - including a new Thermostat and the 'Contour' Thermostat Housing. He did a nice job !
During the process, I told him about the slow warm up this car has always had, and he mentioned that Ford makes a different thermostat that actually warms up faster than the 'standard' one - while still maintaining the same max temp. Of course it was too late to explore such options, as it was late Friday night, and the car was torn apart. So I was stuck with the new (Ford) Thermosat that he had brought along for the repair. Happily, the new setup warms up significantly faster than the original. Not super fast, but decent for an SVTF. Way nice! Anyway, since my car was originally from So. California, I'm wondering if it had a 'cooler than normal' thermostat from the factory. It did not have the cold weather package or any such thing that you find on local SVTF's.
So who's the thermostat guru out there? Please add your 2¢.
"Old Guy's" SVT: 2004 CD Silver 3-door w/blue interior (one of 244 in that color scheme in 2004)
Build #879 of 1,978 Mods: JRSC+BBK; C-F-M Rear Engine Mount; FSWERKS Stealth Exhaust
there are lots of different thermostats in lots of temp ranges
a thermostat temperature setting won't make a car warm up faster or slower, it will however determine what temp the engine ends up at. I'll bet your old thermostat was partially stuck open
Mine was exactly the same way until I replaced stat and housing.
2008 Bone Stock VW GLI
2004 Sonic Blue SVT ZX3, #1593 of 1978 Born 4/8/04
Stage 2 ported TB, Semi-custom Borla center exit, FSWerks CAI, FS front strut bar, suspension by FR/Multimatic gone, but not forgotten
Unless the design itself has changed there is no other stat for an SVT, there was only one specified ever and it's the same one we sell for the Contour conversion.
Stats do tend to have a pretty short lifespan though so odds are your improvement in warm up and heat output is simply because the stat is new, not that it's a different design (because I don't think it is).
spots25 wrote:there are lots of different thermostats in lots of temp ranges
a thermostat temperature setting won't make a car warm up faster or slower, it will however determine what temp the engine ends up at. I'll bet your old thermostat was partially stuck open
Untrue. If you have a thermostat that starts opening at 165 degrees and reaches max open at 212 degrees, then it will start flowning coolant back to the radiator sooner than if you have a thermostat that starts opening at 175 degrees and reaches max open at 212 degrees. The longer you hold the coolant inside the engine without shipping it out to the radiator, the faster the engine will warm up. Therefore a thermostat temperature setting wil make a car warm up faster. We did put a factory thermostat back into Jim's STV so the it is highly likely that his thermostat was stuck a little open. You can however purchase aftermarket thermostats that have the same max open temp, but will wait longer to start opening
spots25 wrote:there are lots of different thermostats in lots of temp ranges
a thermostat temperature setting won't make a car warm up faster or slower, it will however determine what temp the engine ends up at. I'll bet your old thermostat was partially stuck open
Untrue. If you have a thermostat that starts opening at 165 degrees and reaches max open at 212 degrees, then it will start flowning coolant back to the radiator sooner than if you have a thermostat that starts opening at 175 degrees and reaches max open at 212 degrees. The longer you hold the coolant inside the engine without shipping it out to the radiator, the faster the engine will warm up. Therefore a thermostat temperature setting wil make a car warm up faster. We did put a factory thermostat back into Jim's STV so the it is highly likely that his thermostat was stuck a little open. You can however purchase aftermarket thermostats that have the same max open temp, but will wait longer to start opening
I guess it depends on what you count as warmed up. When I start getting heat out of the vents, I consider it warmed up. 165 and 175 degree thermostats both get to 165 at the same time.
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