160Âº.... anyone??

08SmokedAlloy · 05-13-2008, 03:40 PM

OK,Granted I asked before if anyone thought it was a good idea to change my thermostat to 160Âº for the loss of power im having at normal opertating temps.It runs like a champ whenthe engines is cold, but then slacks as it hits mid way on the temp gauge.The only suggestionI got was trya new tune, soI went for it,I got a bama and Im pleased with it..but it didn't solve my problem. Maybe its not a problem at all, if thats just the way these engines run and there is nothing I can do about the loss of power then so be it. Has anyone actually ever put a 160Âº thermostatin. If so please throw me a little info here, did it help? Was it worth the work to not lose the power if it in fact helped?

08GT, c&l racer, gt500 tb, udp's, cop's, bama tune.

thefrantic1 · 05-13-2008, 07:18 PM

i am beginning to wonder if its the car itself. mine runs awesome when cold and the air outside is cooler, 50's and 60's. you get 80+ and the power drops tremendous, especially in town driving.with the extra power of the tune its more noticable with the power drop.i have tried multiple things including different tunes with no suscess. i havent tried a 160 thermostat but i will if it helps. good luck.. if you figure it out post a thread. i will do the same.

FrostByte · 05-13-2008, 07:25 PM

160 deg is to cold. It will run in the warm up loop all the time. Go down to 180 but no lower.

06VistaBlueGT · 05-13-2008, 08:30 PM

These cars do lose power when warm, (most cars do)I was curious about exactly how much of a difference it makes. A couple weeks ago, I was at the track for a benefit and decided to run the car warm, then let it cool down and run it cool. With it warm, it ran a 13.23, with it cool (not bone cold) it ran a 12.91. These runs were about an hour and a half apart with similar conditions.

As for a 160 degree thermostat, I wouldn't go that low. I think you might be asking for trouble. Like frostbyte said, it will probably stay in a warmup cycle. I've also heard that running a thermostat that cold has the potential to cause the engine to build-up sludge.

thefrantic1 · 05-14-2008, 04:09 AM

not sure about 08smokedalloy but mine is a night and day difference in power. it hauls ass when cool and wouldnt outrun grandma in a 87 escort when warm. mine seems worse in stop and go traffic. after a ride in the open air and then stopping at a light it doesnt do it. seems to be lacking fuel. i have altered the fuel setting on my tune with no suscess amongst other things. i have seen quite a few peeps on here complaining about the same or a similar issue.

NdroRder · 05-14-2008, 10:46 AM

Smoked,
I don't know if the 160 will help your problem, but here is a line of logic regarding power. When it is warm out, air density is less. Less air results in less fuel (due to engine management) causing less power. With a cold air intake, a significantly moreamount of combustion air comes from the engine compartment, especially when accellerating hard from a stop but not moving fast enough to circulateoutside air around the engine compartment. The stock airbox drew air from the fender well which is a more consistent temperature so the difference in power between hot and coldwould be less noticeable. I don't believe the 160 will reduce the engine compartment temps significantly since a lot of that heat comes from the manifolds. Adding more fuel to compensate will only make the car run rich -which at some point willreduce power even more.

Just Guessing,
Cliff

thefrantic1 · 05-14-2008, 04:24 PM

sounds right to me. its in the 80's here today. when i got off work its a 10 mile drive in to town. the car ran awesome. loads of power. when i got to town and was stuck in the 5pm traffic, i tryed it off the line at a light and wow no power. great sound but not going anywhere. got back on the open road for about 2 miles then stopped at 1 more light and no problems. the car ran great.

abit surprised but the guys at steeda acted like they had never heard of this, and my car was the only one. i hope some vette doesnt pull beside me at the light. i wont know if my car will be the vette eater or the 87 escort. there has to be something out there to help this problem.