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quick question about t-stat.

colbystephens

colbystephens

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ok, so it's time to replace my thermostat. napa wants a bit over $18 for the tstat and gasket. partsamerica wants like $22 or so. autozone wants about $8 for their regular 195* tstat, or $13 for the "failsafe" style. what's up with the significant price difference? the autozone is a duralast brand. nearest autozone is about 35 minute drive - can't decide if it's worth it to drive that far for a cheap tstat. then they've also got a $40 variety, but that's outta my range right now... what's up with the pricey one?

which would you buy?
 
get a stant, don't get cheap crap, and the fail safe are crap, all they do is hold the t-stat open if it gets too hot.
 
never mind. i went though a different parts store - but those stant tstats are hard to get! quite the process to find one... hope it kicks as much ass as you say it will! i've had trouble w/ getting properly functioning tstats before. perhaps it was because i bought the cheapo one's before.
 
that would've been good to know! :D there's a carquest not far from me - but i've never bought anything through that company and forget it exists. :)
 
1 more thing, whatever you do, DO NOT use a Superstat, because if you do, you will be removing it shortly after installing it and throwing it in the garbage.
 
a little off topic. is there any risk of damage not running a stat on a trail only truck?
 
hmatiak said:
a little off topic. is there any risk of damage not running a stat on a trail only truck?
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I don't know if there is really a risk of damage, but why would you do this??? The engine would run cold a large amount of the time and therefore not have optimum performance.
 
hmatiak said:
a little off topic. is there any risk of damage not running a stat on a trail only truck?
Click to expand...
you don't want to do this with a 6.2. it won't hurt it, but i've had a couple tstats fail on me and when i drive around, particularly at low engine speed, it will spew a lot of unpleasant smoke because it can't burn the fuel completely because it's so cold. diesels run on a combination of heat and compression. take either one away and you're in for a sh!tty driving experience.
 
6.2Blazer said:
I don't know if there is really a risk of damage, but why would you do this??? The engine would run cold a large amount of the time and therefore not have optimum performance.
Click to expand...

Better run cold than hot. Just curious. I usually never run one in a gas burner trail truck.
 
hmatiak said:
Better run cold than hot. Just curious. I usually never run one in a gas burner trail truck.
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i've never had my 6.2 overheat on me under any type of appropriate use (only time was when i blew a cooling hose off of my engine because i didn't fasten it properly and all the coolant got pumped out. :doah: )

as a result, i think your statement about "better to run cool than hot" is not accurate for the diesel. i bet you could pull a long grade all day long with a good sized load and never see that coolant guage get anywhere near a dangerous point. this certainly won't happen during wheelin.
 
Diesel is not like a gas engine at all when it comes to coolant temps. A gas engine will tend to get quite warm idling a lot (traffic, crawling a trail etc) where a diesel just cools down. My 81 Jimmy has no T-stat and during one of the hottest parts of summer I got stuck on the freeway due to a wreck ahead of me. I sat there idling for almost an hour in 95F heat. Within 5 minutes of stopping i watched my temp guage drop from ~195 down to 140 and just stay there.

Having a T-stat will just keep the engine running at a good temp on the trail...which will ensure the fuel gets burned efficiently and keep people from complaining your rig stinks too much.

Rene
 
hmatiak said:
Better run cold than hot. Just curious. I usually never run one in a gas burner trail truck.
Click to expand...

Sure, having the engine cold doesn't cause the damage that an overheat does........but the only reason it would get hot due to the t-stat is if it suddenly stuck close, and it takes 5 minutes to pull it. So basically, if having a t-stat installed makes your truck run hot then something is wrong. That's like having the front diff grenaded and instead of fixing it you say "it doesn't make noise when I run it in 2wd...so it' better to run in 2wd then in 4wd on the trail".
 
6.2Blazer said:
Sure, having the engine cold doesn't cause the damage that an overheat does........but the only reason it would get hot due to the t-stat is if it suddenly stuck close, and it takes 5 minutes to pull it. So basically, if having a t-stat installed makes your truck run hot then something is wrong. That's like having the front diff grenaded and instead of fixing it you say "it doesn't make noise when I run it in 2wd...so it' better to run in 2wd then in 4wd on the trail".
Click to expand...

Once again, just curious. New to the 6.2's. My question was answered. Thanks Rene.

"Having a T-stat will just keep the engine running at a good temp on the trail...which will ensure the fuel gets burned efficiently and keep people from complaining your rig stinks too much."
 
I have gotten to the point where the only t-stats I will run are AC's. Some of the aftermarket units may be OK or may not, but AC stats always seem to work and last.
 
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