My son is stuck halfway to Berkeley on 5 freeway with overheat problem in his '87 RX-7. Wants to remove thermostat and try and get to next exit. Is this ok to do? Says no circulation in top hose..
Ed

 

I heard it's bad to remove the thermostat. It helps maintain the required pressure in the cooling system, removing it might just cause more heat problems like cavitation and air pockets.
When mine overheated, i opened all the windows and cranked the AC to maximum heating. It allowed heat to leave the engine and helped bring my needle down a little. Hope that helps.

 

DO NOT drive the car with the engine overheating.

The thermostat has no effect on the pressure in the cooling system. THe radiator cap takes care of that. If he takes the T-Stat out the car will probably not come up to proper running temp BUT that would get him to a mechanic.

If he drives the car with it running hot I promise it will destroy the engine. Don`t take the chance. If all else fails call a tow truck.

 

if you take the t stat out you can probably drive it with less chance of an over heat.

 

The thermostat in an FC is a bypass type. The thermostat not only "opens" when it gets warm, but also a small piston extends and blocks the bypass opening. Removing the themostat will cause a much of the coolant flow to bypass the radiator. If the thermostat is stuck closed, then removing it is better than nothing, but I would only drive a few miles very slowly with the fans on full-hot.

-bill

 

if he does so do not rev high at all. ive heard that the coolant will circulate too fast and not have time to cool in the radiator. i personally would call in for a tow

 

It's not worth the risk. Call a tow and be happy. Spend the $100 and save thousands!

RXXXED

 

Pulled the thermostat and it ran fine and quite cool. Drove it a couple hundred miles to get out of the middle of nowhere and finish my long trip. Now it's parked somewhere safe and I can walk to a parts store if needed (45 minutes each way).

Now I can:
1. Drive to the parts store today, get an OEM thermostat later.
2. Walk to the parts store today, get an OEM thermostat later.
3. Look for an OEM thermostat soon, drive it in the meantime without worrying.

Closest Mazda dealers are "Oakland Audi Porsche Mazda" 4.4 miles away and "Richmond Mazda" 9.4 miles away. I do have time to walk 4.4 miles, but don't see the point if I've already gone 200 miles with the needle at 1/3 most of the way. Will they have thermostats in stock, or do they have to special order?

 

Got a cheap thermostat. Gonna order an OEM thermostat online and drive without worrying about it. Looks like the last thermostat wasn't OEM, unless OEM's look about the same as the auto-store thermostats. If there any objections, say so. Otherwise let this thread die.

Thanks for the help, though I only got sodara's response read to me while I was on the road. It seems minor now, but it was scary being stuck in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night with no road signs to tell the tow guy where I was, and not enough coolant on hand to refill the radiator (actually I was so close after using fluid from the reservoir, I could have used a water bottle to fill the rest. But I didn't know that).