Hey guys general question here. If I was to remove the thermostat on my other car. Its a 90 Dodge shadow. 2.2l what if any gains are there from doing this and what are the disadvantages I may see.

I can think of some just need help with others.

Gain: Engine Runs cooler
Loss: Engine takes longer to warm up/heater core.

 

Are you refering to your AC?

From my understanding, if you cut the belt, you will get some small gains. However, if you remove the AC, which is a very expensive process, than your only gain would be significat weight reduction. Im thinking about doing the same thing to my lanos later down the road when I ran out of things to do, but if I were you, spend the money on something else like camshafts... Zex kit...anything

 

No, he's referring to the thermostat actually in the cooling system.

Removing the thermostat entirely is a very bad idea. If you allow the coolant to flow freely without any sort of limiter like the thermostat, you can actually overheat your engine with the coolant still being under 170 degrees.

The reason is because water needs TIME to soak heat out of the cylinder sleeves and block. If you just whizz the water past the cylinders at full speed, it will not be in contact with the hot surfaces enough to effectively cool them.

Thus, your coolant gauge stays on the *cold* peg, but your cylinder sleeves start scorching because the coolant isn't removing any heat.

Alternate thermostats can gain power in engines where larger cooling systems and radically altered engine dynamics exist. In a mostly stock setup (I/H/E doesn't count as radical) your stock thermostat is the best one to use.

 

Hopper-

If you look around at your local auto parts stores, you should be able to find a thermostat for your car that is a lower tempature. You might not be able to find a 160 degree unit, but maybe a 170 or 175 (assuming your stocker unit is 180 or 190).

 

Watching the coolant in the radiator while the engine is running, I believe the stock thermostat is at 190F according to both the Haltech and the OBD2 logger.

I don't see a cooler thermostat helping much on a stock motor. I chose to stick with the stock thermostat even on my oddball-boost motor, only because I know it works