160 Thermostat

[ThaDyce17]

As you all know my car either has warped heads or the head gasket is blown because it continues to build up pressure in the hoses when the radiator cap is down. So i ride with the flap up on my radiator cap to keep it from building pressure, but when I run my AC the car will run at normal temp then it will slowly start to climb until its about half way up the temperature guage then itl stop for a sec and continue up then when I turn off the car it'll start bubbling on the inside. I got a new water pump on the car... will a 160 degree thermo work better for that as far as keepin it cool? does the car run warmer with the AC on? and if there anything I can do about the bubbling?

[ssms5411]

Re: 160 Thermostat

I'll try and answer some of the ?'s, The coolant is suppose to build up pressure for your coolant to flow through the radiator and engine. When the A/C is on the fans turn on, stock tune is around 220 temp for the fans to turn on. A 160 thermo is just lettting the Antifrezze run through the engine with cooler temp to cool the engine. A SLP manual fan switch is what I installed on mine(easy install plug & play) with a drilled 160 thermo and it has worked great in AZ heat, I also have the PCM tuned with Hptuners. The temp will still climb up to 195-205 temp even with the fan switch on high. As long as the temp is below 220 degrees the stock system is doing its job. You could also run more water than anitfrezze and add some RP ICE to reduce the temp rising.

[cam98aro]

Re: 160 Thermostat

my vote is warped heads

my friends truck did the same exact thing, with the rad cap on it would overheat, seemed perfect with no rad cap

[ssms5411]

Re: 160 Thermostat

You could also have the coolant system pressure test to see if you have a leak somewhere. Is there coolant in the oil or oil in the coolant, any leaks?

[ThaDyce17]

Re: 160 Thermostat

Is it okay to run a 160 degree thermo in the summer time?