lower thermostat or not ?
Thread Starter
Staging Lane
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 87
Likes: 0
From: Hattiesburg MS
see the thing is i live in mississippi and the summers down here are pretty dang hot and the winters are even warm just the other day it was like 70 something and in the end of december and i think a 160 degree thermostat would help but i would get the fans tuned when i get a tune
But running too hot can cause the computer to pull timing. So too hot can mean less power. But too cold also does not allow the engine to transfer the energy properly so that is not always a good thing either. It's a fine balance to find the right heat range.
Running too cool causes long term engine wear. There were several threads on this on the 99 up truck forums at Chevytalk a while back. I run a stock 195 t-stat in both my GM Gen III's and would never consider going lower than 180. If you you live in hot climate I would maybe just program the fan(s) to come on a little sooner.
I've got a 160 in mine and love it. Fans are programed to come on at 180 and the car sticks about there. Before I put the t-stat in there the car was running at 210...Which in Texas heat is way to damn hot. IMO it's not a bad mod to do.
I put a 160 in my car about a month ago when my 180* stat stuck shut on me 
. I drive my car daily even in cold and crazy cold single digit temps. the 160 didn't change the heat output in my car at all from the 180 and the 180 felt no different than the stock, Plenty of heat, no tuning problems, no drop in MPG. fans in my car are set to come on at 185. I have a feeling the 160 t-stats don't actually open at 160 though because my car runs around 175 deg even in very cold single digit air temps. The 180 I had in there before ran around 180. This is all verified with HPT logs as well.
Also FYI the stock tune for the fans is crazy high on the Ls1 F-cars....
low fan on 226/ off 219
high on 234/ off 227
. I drive my car daily even in cold and crazy cold single digit temps. the 160 didn't change the heat output in my car at all from the 180 and the 180 felt no different than the stock, Plenty of heat, no tuning problems, no drop in MPG. fans in my car are set to come on at 185. I have a feeling the 160 t-stats don't actually open at 160 though because my car runs around 175 deg even in very cold single digit air temps. The 180 I had in there before ran around 180. This is all verified with HPT logs as well.Also FYI the stock tune for the fans is crazy high on the Ls1 F-cars....
low fan on 226/ off 219
high on 234/ off 227
Exactly, my car runs at 185-195 with the stock thermo and that seems to be perfect with bolt ons.
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