Sorry to change the topic just slightly.

Is there any benifit to running a slighly higher coolant system pressure, say 16 psi instead of 13 psi, on a street car (TII) especially during summer?

 

The benefit will be a higher boiling point for your coolant.

 

RETed, I understand that you think it might not be harmful for an engine to remove or core the thermostat, but an engine that reaches operating temperature quicker will experience better fuel economy and reduced wear compared to any engine without. It might be a small difference, but one that is worth the extra couple of bucks for a new thermostat. I am sorry that you feel that I was insulting you, but that was not my intended purpose, sorry.

 

None at all, except as a foolish band-aid for a seriously overheating engine. At 13psig water boils at 261degF, and at 16psig this rises to 272degF. Since you shouldn't be getting anywhere near 260degF in the first place, why would you want to be able to go higher? All you're doing is pushing your 15+ year old rubber coolant hoses 3psi closer to failure.

 

Am i the only one that got an aftermarket t-stat from the mazda dealer, it was bacially repackaged in a Mazda bag/box? I bought the t-stat about a year ago. I was pretty dam pissed off.

 

That's not "aftermarket". It may not be made by Mazda (many parts in the car aren't) but it is made to Mazda specs and meets their requirements.

 

Does it say Calsonic on it?


-Ted

 

i had problems with my thermostat. it's wierd but for a long time my ilde used to jump up and down on start-up, and it would shut off by itself for no reason while driving. then finally it was overheating cuz the thermo messed up and wouldnt let coolant in when it needed. after i pulled it out, all the problems dissapeared in that instant. everything's nice and smooth as a rx7 should be. it's been a yr since i pulled it out and still no problems.now living in fla i dont need to worry about cold temps here but it's gone down to the 50's and the onlt thing i noticed is cranking it longer than i should but that's it. but i also make sure i don't redline it. i do give a lil gas to speed up the warming but like i said before - no problems since i've pulled it. jus some food for thought

 

Why not just put a new one in so the cooling system can work the way it's supposed to?

 

 

This is just a general note, not directed to anyone specifically

I've noticed in this thread that all of the people who say "why not just replace it...." all live in places where the temperature actually gets down to <40.. I'm not sure where you live in NZ, NZ, but unless it's near Mordor, I'm sure it gets cold enough where you are. (Everything I needed to know about NZ, I learned from Lord Of The Rings ) And I know that NJ isn't that much warmer than PA here in the winter, 87turbomkiii ...

Whereas the people who are saying that it has not affected them in any noticable way live in FL, and HI, as ReTed has pointed out.. I'll bet if the entire planet's temperature was comperable to HI's weather, then there would be cars on the market without thermostats...

As for me, It's 7 degrees out today, with wind... I'm keeping mine in for at least the winter

 

I just replaced mine on my GXL with a new mazda one. It's nice having the car warm up quickly in this freezing weather

 

[I]Whereas the people who are saying that it has not affected them in any noticable way live in FL, and HI, as ReTed has pointed out.. I'll bet if the entire planet's temperature was comperable to HI's weather, then there would be cars on the market without thermostats...


i was gonna get to what you just said but i got busy here at work, but thanks for the point. i just like to think that if it's too cold for you then it'll probably be the same for your car imo.

 

I guess you guys keep forgetting about the near freezing temps and soaring summer heat into the 110F range...


-Ted

 

Near freezing? Sorry Ted, you don't get too much sympathy from me It's -4 here tonight, but things are looking up as it's supposed to warm up tomorrow.. long enough to drop 9-12 inches of snow

See, PA is like the worst of both worlds... We regularly get 98-105 degrees in the summer with 100% humidity, and in the winter we hope for days when it's warm enough to snow, simply because that means that it's at least greater than 10 degrees.. I can't complain this year, though, so far it's been mild and we've seen temps as high as 45 as of last week.. top down weather! But since last thursday, it's been all less than 20...

Haha, I do want to come down and visit you HI Rotaryheads, though.. It always sounded like a nice place, and all of you HI rotary people seem pretty bloody cool.

Keep warm

 

Wow....-4. It's -25 here right now...

At any rate, we have covered this thermostat thing about 10,000 times, with always the same conclusions. So unless someone has a ground breaking thermostat development, this thread is pretty much over.

 

I am originally from jersey, but am living in PA since september because of school, and you're right about the cold. It is about the same as my home in jersey, slightly colder here(PA). It has gotten as cold as -12 where I live, and my cooling system in my beater is working great thanks to the working thermostat

 

Aaron, you're right, though.. it normally doesn't get below -10-15 here.. . but you don't dont have the triple digits in the summer, do you?

And I do think this thread was over a long time ago When I started it (MONTHS ago), I was just making sure no short-term damage was possible while I troubleshot an overheating engine..

 

That's actually very unlikely. One of the reasons engines come with thermostats is to warm them up quickly. Unless you lived somewhere where the ambient temp never dropped below 180degF, then you will always need some way to stop coolant flowing through the radiator until the engine reaches that temp.

The other reason for thermostats is temperature control. No matter how hot it is where you live, the simple engineering fact is that to maintain the engine temp in the region where it works best, you need some way to adjust coolant flow according to engine load (and hence the amount of waste heat produced).

What I can't understand is why anyone would argue against using one, or think there engine is better off without one. The part is very cheap, readily available, reliable and long-lasting. So what's the big deal? Why is this even discussed?

 

My s4 NA dropped to 176F driving home in the wee hours Saturday morning ($80 Cyberdyne electric gauge.) I should probably mention that it was 4F out.



Btw, Ted -> is your gauge mechanical or electric?

 

Another problem that could occur would be without the flange from the thermostat in place, the coolant could actually circulate through the engine too quickly and not be able to extract enough heat from the engine. This would of course cause an overheating condition.

 

That's a well-known problem on an engine running under load with no thermostat. Racecars use restrictor plates or gutted thermostats to avoid this, but there's no reason to do that on a street car.

 

what i dont get is why is someone so cheap that they cant buy a $15 part to make the car work right....do you not have the money? i can donate it if you want... it will make your car run like its supposed to. i will even buy the part from my mazda dealer and send it to you....(but you will have to wait till i get my rebuild done....thats where my money is going right now).....run with a t-stat its not that expensive.

 

I've read every page so far.

From what I've summed up, the thermostat is a good thing. I can see why some of you don't use it, but I believe there are more pro's to using it than some of the pro's that you have stated.

I think mine is totally fucked, on tues im getting a new pressurecap, tstat, and waterpump just to eliminate some of the things on my maintenence list.

reTed, I see where your coming from, but you stated before that you were too lazy to replace it and that you had one less thing to worry about. I guess where you live, it doesn't really matter, as your car maintains a decent running temperature with coolant circulating all the time.

For all of us canucks/northern americans/europeans, a tstat is a good thing.

 

Temperature where I am ranges from -40C in the winter to over +40C in the summer. +40C is about 104 fahrenheit.