PontiacBonnevilleClub.com

Do i need to do a manual over ride on my 95 with a 180 t-stat?

You don't need one, but they can be handy if you run a lot at the track. My LeSabre has always run with a 180 with no over ride, and I ran for years on the Bonneville with a 180 without having the computer adjusted.

i do run at the track for fun almost every friday, so for the summer and early fall it will help me there, but being in ohio with sub zero temps at times ill put the 195 back in for winter

180 is plenty hot, I never switched mine out and never had issues even when it was -30°.

Thanks for the advice!

I just installed a 180* on my 2000, nothing needed other then stat and gasket. Takes 5 min to swap and minimal spill if you are careful.

So why have alot of people acted like it was a big deal if you dont have the fans set for the right temp?

because the car will be the normal temp when the fans are not on

The only time the motor will run at 180* or near it, is on the highway. Otherwise all the other times the fans will come on like normal which is in the 220* range.

95se wrote:So why have alot of people acted like it was a big deal if you dont have the fans set for the right temp?

If you don't set the fans then it's kind of pointless. It will obviously keep the temperature down a bit inside the engine, and most would correctly state that's all that really matters, but when that coolant gets released into the radiator it doesn't get cooled down as much as it should before it eventually re-enters the engine. If you're cruising down the interstate it won't matter as there will be plenty of airflow cooling your radiator but sitting in traffic or at a race track the temps are gonna still be quite high.

At least that's my limited understanding of it. I'm no mechanic or thermal engineer though

Did some kind of message go out to the old members? I've seen more than a few re-appear the past couple days.

00Beast wrote: Did some kind of message go out to the old members? I've seen more than a few re-appear the past couple days.

Not sure. Would be pretty cool though. Kinda miss when this place bumped a little. Hahaha

160* stat WILL require reprogramming of the ecu. I swapped mine trying to lower my combustion temps and reduce my NOx readings.. didnt do much but makes me feel better on 90-100* days..

Don't want to hi-jack the thread, but I put a 180 thermostat in my ole 92 SSE quite some time back - before I joined the forum and it did not like it at all. It would not come up to operating temperature. I had to put the 195 back in.

My question is, since the cooling system on the '05 that hopefully I pick up tomorrow, would it really be a good idea to change to a 180 while it's torn apart, or just leave the 195 thermostat in it, or is it just an opinion that it should be a 180, not a 195?

Thanks - BC

^^^^oldman^^^^^ hopefully mine being a series 2 it doesnt act up like yours, well see i just got a themostat

Quite honestly, I ran a 180* for a while, and noticed no difference. I think the only difference would be where the gauge rides on the highway, or how cool the car runs with the A/C on (which runs the fans on high usually). The main benefit is to the supercharged engines, as when they heat soak, they like to preignite (aka Knock), and this helps keep that at bay. The NA engines can stand to run hot, and some actually run better from it.

And as far as the car never heating up with a 180*, either it was friggin cold, or something was wrong with your thermostat. In cases like that, if it is that cold, you would do well to block off some of the radiator during the winter to keep heat in the engine.

as mentioned, to get the most, a PCM tune is recommended to bring down the turn on temp, to make the most of it, but an override works also. An override can trip a code on OBD2. On a stock pcm, extended stints below 170* (like with a 160* thermostat) will likely trip a code (too cold for too long).

1oldman wrote:Don't want to hi-jack the thread, but I put a 180 thermostat in my ole 92 SSE quite some time back - before I joined the forum and it did not like it at all. It would not come up to operating temperature. I had to put the 195 back in.

My question is, since the cooling system on the '05 that hopefully I pick up tomorrow, would it really be a good idea to change to a 180 while it's torn apart, or just leave the 195 thermostat in it, or is it just an opinion that it should be a 180, not a 195?

Thanks - BC

She'll run hot anyways. Unless you do a lot of open road driving I'd just leave the 195 in.

The PCM adjustment doesn't have much to do with the fan turn-on temps as much as it has to do with when the PCM stops trying to make the engine warmer VIA fueling (and maybe timing). I've got a 160 and a chip tuned for it. Typically, it sits at 170-180 in town driving.

Just put the 180 in today, so far the cars running good and cooler, so ill give it a few days and see

nos4blood70 wrote:

1oldman wrote:Don't want to hi-jack the thread, but I put a 180 thermostat in my ole 92 SSE quite some time back - before I joined the forum and it did not like it at all. It would not come up to operating temperature. I had to put the 195 back in.

My question is, since the cooling system on the '05 that hopefully I pick up tomorrow, would it really be a good idea to change to a 180 while it's torn apart, or just leave the 195 thermostat in it, or is it just an opinion that it should be a 180, not a 195?

Thanks - BC

She'll run hot anyways. Unless you do a lot of open road driving I'd just leave the 195 in.

I had it in for over a month. It never got past where I thought 190 was. It never even made it to the middle of the temp gage (200?), with or without the A/C. I took it out because I was concerned about what happens to the oil and engine when they never reach operating temperature. - BC